Hi Nancy:

Well, as always during these cold times, it is very hard to hear about and look at all the trees with severe, potentially life threatening, cold damage. Of course I hope that the main trunks and branches remain viable and come sproutiong back with a vengence this spring. I did want to mention that just because we are having such cold weather so early, does not necessarily mean that we will be even worse come January or February. From memory, I recall the freeze of 1989 which had temps at my house at 26 on Christmas Eve. We were on our way out to Denver early that morning and the temp at our house as we left was 30 degrees colder than it was in Denver upon our arrival. I lost hundreds of orchid plants in that freeze. Anyway, despite having such cold weather that early in the winter, the remainder of the winter months seemed to be relatively uneventful. So, my little ray of sunshine for today is, let's all hope for the more mild rest of the winter. Hang in there!

Harry

I think what Harry said makes sense. Even in NY this can be true. We started our winter like a beast. Between mid November to the the beginning of December we had TONS of snow. Not typical for weather in Fredonia NY. Since then, we have not ha any measurable snow fall. We actually have less snow going into January than when we were going into December. This weekend we are acutally predicted to hit the 50 degree mark, when our average temps would be in the teens and twenties. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we actually have a milder winter.

I am praying for everyone in Florida to have a milder more normal winter. IT seems so bizarre that this would continue to happen after the winter you had last year.

I had read on the internet that the home of the winter tomato crop was around the Homestead area of Florida. Does anyone know if this is true? I was just wondering if along with the srawberry and citrus crops if they had been damage or not. This is a big concern for the people who live in the northern half of the U.S. I remember last year the produce that had come from Florida was sky high! I paid $3 for 2 Minneola tangelo. I don't think grapefruits EVER went below $1 a piece. Tomatoes which I never have liked off season, were also considerably more expensive.

Also, thanks to everyone who has been willing to post there weather findings in there yard.

Andrew

Just a heads up...but get ready for summer..

Extended range shows Miami getting to near 80F by Sun through next Thurs if not longer... Enjoy :)!!!

Harry, very positive statement and true. We've had very cold and wet Nov. and Dec. here in Socal in the past 33 years follow by two to three years of droughts and severe water rationing in the summer. We usually get a wave of folks from the East Coast after watching the Rose Bowl game.....they see the sunshine and the 70-80 degrees in Jan. and they want to move to sunny Socal.

Thank you Harry...for sharing your story and giving me a ray of hope! I really hope that's the case, it sure would be GREAT for all of our fruit trees if January and February is a lot milder than December!

Hey Andrew, I'm not sure about Homestead and the winter tomato hub? Its VERY possible its true. It definitely has a domino affect when we get freezes as the price increase trickles down and affects everyone.

Here's a few updated pictures of the damages SO far...

Cogshall...

Glenn...
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This Cogshall is finally getting a pretty good size trunk too...so hopefully the tree will survive even though I will have to "Pug" 90% of the tree in March!

My Dwarf Meyer lemon...I just planted 8 months ago.
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Awwww was all I could think of when I saw that Cogshall. BUT beneath all that russet is a green lining. I do hope that they pull through, that there is no more nasty weather this next year and that they grow old and invincible to cold weather.

I do understand zone pushing. I was out in the rain and twilight in early December covering all the susceptible (as usual) or so I thought. Woke up next morning to remember that I had forgotten 2. So I was out in a foot of snow covering the rest. That's a new low - or high depending on how you look at it.

Cath

Puglvr, my heart goes out to you. That is so disheartening and I understand your frustration in having to wait until spring. Let's think warm thoughts and hope that the rest of the winter will be mild.

Thank you Cath and Trini!! I too hope for a much milder 3 months left of winter.

At this point, not much else I can do but "wait and see" what the rest of winter brings and if they survive come Spring?

Hi Pug. Maxed out the old thread wow! Thanks for the compliments on my yard=) Your poor trees! At least there is still some green in there. Thanks for posting the pictures - I know that must be hard. Thanks especially for the shot of the Meyer Lemon - I was wondering where its edge is. Did you cover it? Or was that the damage from leaving it unprotected?

Here's the rundown on the 10 trees I covered:

No damage: Valencia Orange, Meyer Lemon, Ponkan Tangerine, Cogshall Mango, Manilita Mango

Minor Foliar Damage: Gefner Atemoya, Emperor Lychee

Heavy Foliar Damage, possible branch loss: Angie Mango, Rosigold Mango

In my case, the difference between the mangos that did fine and the ones that got burned was all in location I think. The two next to the house did well, the ones farther out in the yard took damage.

My Rosigold - you can see its distance from the house (if you look carefully you can just see the Manilita in the bacground of this image).
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My Manilita - you can see just how close to the house it is.
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The Manilita even has developing blooms that did fine:
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My lychee flushed out new growth in November that didn't have a chance to harden - only the new growth was damaged:
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And the Atemoya:
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I underplanted the Atemoya with strawberries. That worked great - the berries get to take advantage of the frost cover too:
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And I found the point at which orange bird of paradise takes damage. I have left them completely uncovered - they weathered 25 just fine, no damage from the first freeze. But at 23, they start taking minor foliar damage. Surprising really, some of the literature indicates they are more sensitive, but I've seen people in my neighborhood leave them uncovered, so thought I'd try. Not enough damage to worry about - so I won't ever trouble to cover them.
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That's not actually as bad as I was expecting Pug. I bet you will still get fruit from them this year. Hopefully the rest of the year will be a bit better.

I am putting most od my mangoes in the ground this spring where they will be covered by the greenhouse. They will definitely be tightly spaced, but I am just tired of having to water so often and I think I will get much better crops with them in ground. I had a lot of mangoes split on me last year that I assume is due to not having a stable amount of moisture in the pots.

Frank, looking forward to summer like weather...even if its short lived.

Hi Sun, I'm happy for you that all your trees are alive and that is the most important thing...as long as the trunks/graft/roots make it...hopefully they will re-grow come Spring assuming we don't have many more of these deadly freezes. My Meyer lemon was only covered on top and it didn't go all the way down, since I ran out of larger blankets and I did add heat it either...actually the tree seems to be alive, I just lost most of the leaves. We'll see how it fares in Spring, but I'm hopeful it will recover.

Hey Jsvand, I do understand what you're saying and since you will have a greenhouse to cover your inground trees, I think they will do fine planted in the ground. I'm not as optimistic as you are about getting fruits from those 3 that were severely damage this year...almost all the tips are burnt...maybe I will get a couple from my Carrie or my smaller Cogshall if we have a milder rest of the winter that's left.

Freeze "watch" for me tomorrow night! Although as of right now they are only calling for 30-31 degrees. I will have to wait till tomorrow and see "if" it changes or gets worse. Just hoping they don't upgrade it to "freeze warning".

There's snow in 49 States today with FL being the only hold out! Found this on CNN. Its kind of cool it happened on 1-11-11

They just lowered my forecast for tomorrow night to 27 degrees (weather underground)...**sigh**

Here is a link that might be useful: Snow in 49 States except FL

Crazy! Yep, I'm covering things today too.

Must be 48 states. Hawaii???

Hawaii regularly gets snow in their mountains

Hi Sun, Yup...just upgraded to "Hard Freeze warning" for me. Sucks! Good luck!

Jsvand...YES 49 States...it snowed in Hawaii too (in the mountains)!

"yes, even Hawaii, where snow falls in Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea all winter."

The top of Haleakala in Maui--in July reaches lows at 30'F

Hi Nanci,
So sorry to see that your mango trees got hit that hard but as the pics show, there is still green growth. It still has to be so frustrating to have them get so nice and lush all summer and then BAM! The winter hits and all the fertilizing, watering and hard work, just down the drain!!

That's how I feel about my poor roses. Last year, I lost two. This year I was meaning to protect them all and I never got around to it so it will be interesting to see whaat survives in the spring.

Good luck to you all. It is so hard to believe that this is still happening.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew! I'm pretty sick of this winter already...I can't wait till Spring. It does make me so mad to see my trees go from healthy to 75% dead...like you said all that hard work and all it takes is one night...very frustrating!
I hope your Roses survives!

I gotta quit checking my forecast...every time I check its lower than the last time,lol...

Hi Marin, Lucky you...no freeze tonight! Send some of that warmer weather our way :o)

wow pug.. those trunks are BEASTLY!

I wish my mango's get to that point sometime.. I hate the fact that the nursery who grafted mine made the graft so high up on the trunk.. its about 3-4ft off the ground, so I cant easily keep it low and bushy like yours.. and if frost nips it to ground level im totally screwed with rootstock mangos

Here is my winter setup, tree on the left is my Glenn.. planted 2 yrs ago, and on the right is my Nam Doc which was planted last spring:
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Mulls - I wonder if your neighbors wonder if you forgot to take the Christmas lights down! Well let them just think that.

What's the greenish thing stuck in the ground between the mangos? Looks like another light with a power cord attached to it...or maybe it's a heater of some kind?

You look well prepared - hope you get a couple Glenns to munch on this year - I got a baby myself and I hear they are beautiful fruit with a wonderful taste to match.

Are you like in the Orlando latitude? Boy what a rough winter you guys have had - with poor Pugs being your poster child of pain!

good luck with what's left of it.....the winter that is....

CaliforniaMangoPoodle

Hi Mullenium, I've seen some of those grafts on Mango trees that are a little high up for me too...I'm llucky I can purchase mine locally and pick my own trees so that helps a lot. I know that a lot of people out there don't have that same option and you get what the nursery picks out and sends. I've been known to "pug" a tree or two because the trunk was too tall for my liking. It's definitely much easier for me to protect them when they aren't so tall.

Great set up you got there...thanks for the picture! Good luck!

mangodog: Yeah my neighbor told me when i first put them up that his wife was like "oh check it out the neighbor already decorated for Christmas" and he told her "no no hun those arent for decorations, hes trying to keep those trees warm" lol..

and that green thing is just a simple timer outlet, bought it from target in the xmas section.. has 6 outlets, a digital timer, and a photocell which turns the power on when its dark and off when its light (but I don't think ill ever use the photocell because frost still can hit early AM).. I wish I would have known about the temp. controlled outdoor power outlets, I think that's next on my wish list, you set it to a specific degree and when it hits that it kicks on the power.

And Im in Arizona, about 30min south of Phoenix zone 9a, in the Phoenix valley they are 9b and due to the vast concrete they dont have to worry as much as I do being out in the boons lol

and pugluvr1: Yeah I asked the nursery I buy from why they were grafted so high, he said that growers on the east coast tend to graft them low to the ground, where as west coast growers graft them up higher like mine, I don't see why they think grafting higher is more ideal though.. I was thinking about letting a branch grow below the graft line to see what they used as rootstock but Id rather have 100% glenn and nam doc

Man puglvr1, that sucks a lot. It sure is hard to take that kind of damage. Unfortunately, I think we are in the middle of another cold winter cycle, kind of like the one in the 80's. The last two winters have definitely been the coldest I've seen, since I moved to NE Florida around 10 years ago. When I bought my house here in Jacksonville, there was a rather large (for the area) Fycus Elastica at the house next door. My other neighbor had two mature Pigmy Date palms, so I thought, "it really has not been getting that cold here any more!". Of course, those tropical plants are now just memories and only the hardy varieties remain around the neighborhood.
The good news is that warmer winters will probably return soon and the old days of two or three minor freezes per winter will return. We just have to make it until then! Of course, I've learned my lesson and I am well prepared for almost any kind of cold that comes my way.
So far, I've only had minor damage on my unprotected citrus (Grapefruit, Pummelo, lemon, etc). I left one of my mango trees unprotected on purpose (I had two of the same kind) and the poor thing is completely dead. Other than that, everything else is doing well and waiting for the spring... I also discovered that one of my orchids is extremely hardy, it is attached to my oak tree and suffered no damage at 24F. In fact, it has suffered no damage at all so far. If anyone is interested, I can dig up the variety and post it.

Good luck to everyone for the rest of the winter.

Cool setup mullenium! What kind of plastic is that? Is it saran wrap? Does that cloth on the top unroll over the sides on top of the plastic, or is it the "roof"?

the plastic is like shrink wrap stuff you use when moving, you see them use it in warehouses alot to wrap up pallet's of boxes.

and the top is sun shade cloth, it's not big enough to unroll over the sides so it just acts as a roof.. when the cold got really bad I put a huge painters plastic drop cloth over the top and used clothes pins to keep it in place. but I had to hurry and remove it in the morning because the temp inside would rise really fast due to the greenhouse like effect and no ventilation..

the sunshade cloth by itself worked out well too, keeping ventilation since its that plastic pourous material.. but those really cold nights I didnt want to risk the heat rising out the top

Oh yeah, the moving shrink wrap. Great idea! It is more heavy duty. I've never seen it in clear before - always green. Sounds like it is working well for you - thanks for sharing!

I think saran wrap would work just as good, just might need to use a few rolls lol