Ouch and the blueberries. My earliest southern Belle is also flushing new leaves.

This post was edited by bamboo_rabbit on Mon, Jan 7, 13 at 14:56

I agree...we still have over 2 months of winter left and I'm just waiting for the "Ax" (freeze ax that is)to fall. My mango trees are all blooming so I know a freeze is not too far away...**sigh**

One of the frustrating parts of pushing my zone limits... growing trees/plants that really shouldn't be planted in my zone,lol...Oh well, gotta take the bad with the good.

Yep. Freeze last year got 60%+ of my blueberry crop. There are not even any bees out yet to pollinate.

This post was edited by bamboo_rabbit on Mon, Jan 7, 13 at 16:05

Yes I, too noticed some blooms already on one of my blueberries, and I thought the same thing, "this isn't good". And another year will probably come with higher priced u-pick blueberries at the farms. Last year they were lower yielding plus they jacked up the prices because it was the first Blueberry Festival and they knew they could get whatever they asked for them. I didn't even pick once last year and it was sad that we didn't have home-made blueberry jam all year.

On a related note: I was at the local big box store getting a new drain for my shower and saw several people carting baskets full of frost sensative plants to there cars. I get the feeling the store might be happy to see them again in a month or two to replace plants lost to a 'surprise' frost.

Same here in Orlando. Peaches, mango and blueberries are all starting to bloom due to the hot weather. Hopefully there won't be a hard freeze

I am not as warm here, but still much too warm given that it's about two months before my last frost date. Highs over 70 and warm nights (well into the 50s) are predicted for the next week. My peach, pear and cherry trees haven't broken dormancy yet, but I am afraid they will. My two apple trees haven't even gone dormant...they both still have leaves. Worse, the Dorsett Golden has been sputtering out a few blooms here and there since November. It even has a half-dozen sad little baby fruits on it.

It's beginning to look like a second year with no apple crop. I just hope I don't lose the peach harvest, too. :-(

Not good, is it?

My mulberry blossoms got it last year.

I'm kinda nervous as well. My mango is bustin' out with giant blooms. My lychees are putting out new growth like it's summertime.
I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop! :-(

I have some blueberry bushes fully flushed out with blooms. I'll have to cover them and put up some Christmas lights if we get a freeze as just about all the buds have flowered on some bushes. I also have peach blossoms.

Lou

I was thinking the same thing when I looked at some of my blueberry plants that are sending out new leaves. And it is going to be around 80 here for about a week.

If my blueberries are already in bloom mode, does this mean they will not get enough chill hours for a good fruit set?

I hate when it is warm in the winter. We deal with the heat so much during the rest of the year, I like a break with some nice, cool weather. Running my air in January is just not right.

Yep, can't wait to get home, I'm betting I have small fruit on my mango's, they were blooming when I left home a month ago and I keep looking at the 10 day forecast and nothing is showing a frost or freeze yet. Was late getting tomatoes in, so sure they are still setting fruit based on the temps. Some are located where it takes an extreme freeze to get them and will put the others in the utility trailer when I get home so that I can run them in and out of the hangar during Jan and Feb freezes.
I did not get anyone to mow my grass, read weeds this time of year, bet they are having a blast dropping seeds all over the place.

On the other hand, my fall tomato plants are still going strong. They're usually frost-toast by this time of year.

Of my 7 peach trees 6 are blooming and 3 have leaves sprouting......the blueberries have hit the tipping point and are going to go now whether I like it or not. The dice have been rolled....wish the bees would wake up.

80F high today. Definite bud swelling on my peach and cherry trees. I haven't pruned or sprayed dormant oil yet. Guess what I am doing tomorrow?

I was at the big box today and they had a few tomato plants. I started to laugh at that (usual tomato planting date is first week of March here), but standing there in the very warm sunlight, it didn't seem as crazy as it should have. I actually pondered buying a couple and working out some freeze protection for them. But I resisted.

I am trying to look on the bright side: my bananas have not gone completely dormant. If we don't get too hard a freeze later, maybe I will find out this year whether they make decent bananas. (It's a nice fantasy, anyway.)

So bamboo rabbit, were you able to get ice cream bananas this year?

Coffeemom,

There is a big bunch hanging from it right now but they are only about half grown....they just bloom too late every year.

And here it comes. Granted you can not trust a weatherman to forecast anything beyond 15 minutes with any degree of accuracy, but at the moment they're saying next Tuesday we'll see a short return to colder temps. Weather.com is saying possible lows of 29F (for my area) and Weather Underground is saying 37. Be ready to protect those buds! I'll be doing the same with my Persian Lime that is starting to flush out.

Leekle,

Actually at 29 the blueberries would be just fine. The open flowers and fruit just after petal fall don't take damage unless it drops below 28......yes I know that is close. On the plus side what it means is you only have to warm them a little.

I'm beachside, so no peaches or blueberries. My desert roses are now growing so I repotted them, fertilized and wished them well. If they start growing, what are you going to do? Ignore them??? This evening should be in the 40's. The water moderates our temps.

They have changed the low to 36 for tuesday so should be fine....weather through the 27th looks ok. so far so good.

beachlily - Curious as to why you say no blueberries. Was thinking about trying them.

I have my "rose colored glasses" on and I predict we are done with anything but a slight flirtation of low thirties! Signed G. Custer

Yes,it`s not good.But remember for the changes in our planet we going to have one month less of winter in the north hemisphere,in special in Texas,Florida and California.Many plantations around the world are moving just to trying to fix this problem,like the vineyards in Spain or the Cacao in Ecuador or the plantations in the middle west.We have a lot to re-learn if we want to save our crops in the near future.

Except for the fact that Europe, also northern hemisphere is having brutal winters.....

Oh oh...a COLD snap is on the forecast this weekend...weather underground has been flip flopping for my low's so I better wait till it gets closer to get a little more accurate forecast (as accurate as those guys can be that is, :o)

Anytime I see 40 degrees for a low in Tampa...I know I'm usually in trouble as I'm always 6-8 degrees colder inland :o(

Keeping my fingers crossed for all of us ...hoping there are NO issues or warning for us.