Cooling down a bit - Page 6

**Rich Z** · 01-30-2022, 12:19 PM

Low got down to 21 degrees here overnight.

**Rich Z** · 02-14-2022, 02:05 PM

Ugh.. Temps went down to 28 degrees last night. Supposed to hit around 35 tonight. Then things are supposed to be looking up.

We have really only had one really cold night so far this year, but seems to be a lot more nights of low 30s and high 20s than I can recall. Seems like we have been covering the pineapple plants at least one or two nights every week.

BTW, that 21 degree night did damage some of the pineapple leaves, and any new growth coming out of the fruit trees got damaged. Some of the smaller more tropical bamboos I have got hit pretty hard too. All it takes it really just one night to kick some of the plants in the butt.

Surprisingly enough, I have a larger tropical clumping type bamboo that I bought from a guy in Tampa years ago that used to get killed back completely to the ground every Winter. But the last few Winters haven't fazed it at all. Matter of fact, even that 21 degree night we had didn't harm it at all. Maybe it just got used to the cold and adapted?

CHASZ51 · 02-16-2022, 07:09 AM

It's over for good now and 90's soon.

**Rich Z** · 02-19-2022, 04:42 PM

Looks like it is not quite over for us. Low into the mid 30s being forecast for tonight.

**Rich Z** · 02-20-2022, 08:45 PM

We had a low of 32.2 degrees last night. I keep on thinking that we have seen the last of the cold nights where we have to cover the pineapple plants, but darn if another one doesn't come sneaking in. Now they are calling for a low of 33 degrees (weather.com) on Monday 02-28.

CHASZ51 · 02-23-2022, 07:09 AM

87f in Tampa.

**Rich Z** · 02-23-2022, 11:44 AM

Well, they changed the forecast for this upcoming Monday. Raised the forecast low by 10 degrees.

Looks like Spring might actually be here now.

Been out fertilizing the fruit trees.

85vette · 03-09-2022, 12:05 PM

We have managed (just by pure luck) to steer clear of the worst weather this winter. I think the coldest temps we were in was around 5 F in New Mexico.

This company is very good in that they usually let us pick our own routes in the event of bad weather. We did hit some ice in Dallas a few weeks ago but we turned south once we saw what we were getting into and avoided the worst of it. Actually the NWS didn't foresee how fast the storm was moving and even the snow and ice removal crews got caught off guard on that one.

So we're home for a couple of weeks now and I'm hoping by the time we head back out we won't see anymore of the white stuff and all the pleasantries that come with it.

Hey, I can dream!

In case you may have noticed my absence, I forgot my computer when we left out two months ago.....

**Rich Z** · 03-09-2022, 05:45 PM

Heck, I just figured EVERYONE has left this site, so I didn't think it unusual that you were gone.

Glad to hear you escaped most of the Winter nastiness. I would sooner crawl through a fire ant nest than to drive on snow and ice covered roads any more.

Speaking of Winter weather, they are now calling for a low of 28 degrees here for Saturday night.

I really thought we were over and done with the cold nights for the Winter.

Got LOTS of new growth on the fruit trees, so they are going to get some damage from the cold. Just not sure how severe it will be, and whether it will impact fruit production for the year. And to add insult to injury, we are getting LOTS of rain today (3.67 inches so far), so that will likely promote even more new growth for the next couple of days before the cold slams in.

We actually had a tornado warning this morning, and best I could tell from the maps, looks like it might have passed through just up the road at the intersection of 319 and 267. I don't know if that was just a radar signature or if a funnel cloud actually touched down. Didn't have any sort of any notable winds around here.

**Rich Z** · 03-12-2022, 07:38 PM

Well, the navel orange tree had the most flower buds on it, so we decided to cover that one out of all the fruit trees. Unfortunately the rest have to fend for themselves over night. Even Connie's pumelo tree, that she dearly loves, that has some new flower buds just forming. It is tucked between two buildings, so I hope it will do OK. We really don't have large enough tarps for any of the other fruit trees anyway. We would have to build cages out of bamboo around them to keep the tarps from laying directly against the leaves, as that causes just as much damage as not covering them at all. At least to the leaves touching the tarp surface. Plus putting on a tarp with out a cage winds up causing it's own damage by knocking off blooms during the putting on and taking off action. So you really don't gain much if you don't do it right.

Covering the navel was a real circus. The tree is good sized, many 8 ft. tall. We only had one really big silver colored tarp that has been in the shed for years, but it was only long and wide enough to cover the tree on three sides. We put some bamboo poles in the ground to drape the tarp over so it wouldn't lay right on the leaves and buds. We then had to drape a smaller blue tarp over the open side and duct taped it to the silver tarp. Then since it might be windy again tonight, we had to use tent stakes to stake the tarps to the ground to keep them from blowing off of allowing cold winds underneath them. I do hope that tree appreciates the work we did to protect it. It gave us about 2 dozen fruits this past year and they were EXCELLENT, so well worth the effort, to us, to try to protect it.

The pear trees, peach trees, and asian pears are all putting out flower buds, as are Connie's blueberry bushes. Just hoping for the best for them all.

And, of course, we covered Connie's pineapple plants too. One of the plots got hit hard by that 21 degree night we had at the end of January. The other one seemed to do fine, though.

Honestly, I am really hoping that the weather forecast is just WAY off. It's not like that has never happened before. A good 10 degrees warmer than forecast would be just fine with me.