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How To Protect Your Plants From The Cold

Wednesday, January 14, 2009 2:24:36 PM
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Ice on Hibiscus plant in Orlando, 7 (Photo courtesy Lani Brito, 1/3)
  • Water your garden before it gets dark. As the water freezes o the plant it gives off heat, and that heat keeps the plants from freezing. Also, the soil will release moisture into the air around your plants during the night and keep the air a little warmer.
  • Watering the plant also prevents dehydration when ice crystals form on the leaf's surface by drawing moisture from the leaf.
  • Even a slight breeze will prevent cold air from settling near the ground during the night. You can help keep frost from forming by providing this breeze artificially with an electric fan. Be sure to protect the fan and all electrical connections from water and the elements.
  • Cover your plants before it gets dark. By the time it gets dark much of the stored heat in the garden has already been lost. If you have time, build a frame around the plants and drape it with newspaper, cardboard, bed sheeting or any other lightweight material. Placing the covering above the plants prevents the material from transferring the cold to the foliage.
  • If you don't have time to put up a frame, lay the protective cover directly onto the plant to slow the loss of heat rising from the plants and the ground.
  • Do not use plastic or vinyl over your plants. It does not breathe and so it traps moisture inside that could freeze.
  • Remove the covers in the morning once the frost has thawed to let the light and fresh air back in, and to prevent overheating by the sun.
  • For smaller individual plants you can use glass jars, milk jugs with the bottom removed, paper cups upside down flower pots as heat traps. Don't forget to remove these covers in the morning.
  • You can collect heat during the day by painting plastic milk jugs black and filling them with water. Place them around your plants where they will collect heat during the day. Water loses heat more slowly than either soil or air. This collected heat will radiate out throughout the night.
  • Potted plants are particularly susceptible to frosts because the roots are also unprotected. If you can't move your container plants indoors or under cover remember to also wrap the pot in burlap or bubble wrap or bury the pot in soil in addition to protecting the foliage.
  • If the temperature drops below 28 degrees, covering won't do much to help the plants.

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