Vero, 32966 23.7 degrees on the sensor that was out in the open yard.

Davie, Western Broward County, 33325.....right around 32 depending on where in the yard the reading was taken.

Zephyrhills, Fl 33541. Weather.com shows observed temp of 28 for both Jan 4 and Jan 5.

Bluepalm, how are your mango trees looking? Did you cover them?

Weather.com now forecasts 26 for Sat and 25 for Sunday night. Yeaaa

I covered all of my mangos, even the 10'-12' Glenn and Dot. That is a chore doing it by yourself! They are still covered so I can't really tell how they did. I did peek at my Nam Doc Mai and it looked a tad piqued on the leaf surfaces, but otherwise o.k. When it was 27 last year I had some limb dieback on a 9' Rosigold and a 5' Alphonso...both were covered with frostcloth and had hand-warmers hanging in their tents, so I expect some minor limb dieback this year too. As long as nothing dies, I'm happy. I'm most worried about my 2-3' Biew Kiew and Sri Chompoo longans as well as my 4' Sweetheart, Mauritius and Brewster lychees. All are tented though, so I think they will pull through. JB, how did your stuff do?

Best regards,
Dan

Lowest I have seen is 22 so far. Lowest my tropicals have seen is 45, and the lowest I let my ultra-tropicals see is between 60-65. The only thing I let go unprotected is my citrus which I really wouldn't mind all that much if they got taken out by the cold.

Dan, I am really glad your mangos appear to be pulling through with none to minor damage. Hopefully you can still get some good crops this year.

So far so good. I added cover to my grumichamas but not the atemoya, white sapote or jaboticaba. Interesting enough, after I ate some lychee's last year I simply tossed the seeds in a mulch bed. I noticed a seedling (say about 6" that I really have no plans on keeping) and thus far it has no indication of damage. It is very protected by a large philodendron though.

Yesterday I had forecasts of 26, 25 this Saturday and Sunday. Now it has been raised to 29 for both nights. Don't know why, but I love it.

I live in Jacksonville near UNF (zip 32224) and my lows so far are as follows:

Nights in Jan/2010:
1-2 == 37.4F
2-3 == 29.3F
3-4 == 29.0F
4-5 == 28.5F
5-6 == 27.3F
6-7 == 25.0F

A lot warmer than at KJAX...

Everything I protected is still alive and well...

Good luck...

Low was 28.9 last night: 32780

Jan 5... 30°
Jan 6... 26°
Jan 7... 26°

Zipcode 33872

My Lychees NOT covered...leaves are fried! Sprayed them with Freeze Pruf...will be asking for a refund,lol...

That sucks pug. Are all of the leaves fried or just the outer leaves? Do you think they will come back? What are they calling for by you this weekend?

Nancy,
That's tragic! I hope your trees recover! I can't believe this weather!! It seems so surreal to see the images of the citrus crops with huge icicles. I hear that snow is possible in parts of FL! What the hell is going on?? And this is suppose to be global warming?? Where is it happening? NOT IN THE US!!
Andrew

Thanks for the sympathies John and Andrew...its calling for 27° for Sat and Sun night, but could change and go lower by then?

As far as the lychees go, It is really too early to tell how much damage the tree itself sustained...but I can see a ton of damaged/burned leaves and branches. Won't know the extent of damage till probably spring? I don't care if I have to trim at least 75% or more off the tree as long as the tree is alive, but won't know for few more months, I'm afraid!

Good luck on your trees Pug.

Good luck for your trees Nancy. Did you provide some heat to the trees that you covered? I'm keeping my fingers crossed for my mangoes etc in ground. It is supposed to hit 19-20 degrees here in north of houston.

-Raghu

Nancy,
I was wondering if you can spray fruit trees with water the same way they spray strawberries to protect against the freezes? I know dunb question but just wondering if it worked the same way.
Andrew

Did your Lanctilla bloom make out ok?

Thanks for the good luck swrancher and Raghu!

Andrew, I can't do the sprinkler thing like the strawberries, we are in a very strict "One" day a week water restrictions. I just don't think it works the same way with mango/lychee trees. Its just not do-able for me.

John, I still have them covered...so I don't know how much freeze damage the trees sustained. Since we have a couple more nights of freeze, I will not uncover anything till I'm sure we will have no freeze for at least 5 days in row. I'm really not expecting the blooms to make it, but the tree is very small anyway so its no biggie. I'd just be thrilled if the tree survives.

My low was 28 last night. It hit freezing early, around 10:00. Zip-code 32780

Yeah, froze again here for the 6th night (Vero Beach 32966) Things that were covered and lit are still alive (albiet foliar damage) things that have not been covered may be replaced (we'll see in a couple of months) with White Sapote, Persimmon, Mulberry, Fig or Peaches.

Was pleasantly surprised at the apparent tolerance of the Alano sapodilla, the Mauritius lychee, Kohala longan and Brogdon avocado.

W. Hollywood, 33023 just now

Mango Kush - Wow, your temps this morning are colder then mine are in far western Broward. I noticed the same thing yesterday on my cars therometer while I was out running errands. it was about five degrees cooler in Plantation then at my house, a distance of only about 10 miles. I guess its because I'm surrounded by some large canals and only a few blocks in from the Everglades. Hope all your stuff is fairing well through this cold weather.

i hope so too.

everything in my yard was pretty much planted this season. figures.

I am ready for this weather to go where it belongs!

These are my lows for the last three nights:
7-8 == 37.2F
8-9 == 30.5F
9-10 == 25.2F

Just a couple more days... We'll see tonight, NOAA says I should get down to around 23F and the KJAX should reach 19F!

My temp at 7:30 this morning was 24.2°!!
Yesterday was 26° this is just Insane!!!

Don't laugh everyone but it seems we are finally getting some of your temps from up north, this morning was 53 degrees here in the hills. Nothing like what's happening in the US but just below what we would expect to be getting this time of year normally.

Pugluvr, that truly sucks. I know how frustrating it is to have this cold snap drag on and on and on...all the while trying to keep tropical plants alive. I woke up at 1:30 and again at 3:30 to see if I needed to deploy heat packs, but my temp. at 3:30 was 33.5. However when I woke up at 7:30 it was 28.5, so it appears the temps dropped pretty quickly. Tonight is forecast for a low of 31, so it looks like tonight is the last night of this nasty, annoying, record-breaking cold snap. Good riddance!

My low temperature this morning was 22.1F and my citrus trees seem to be frozen... Well, at least the leafs are probably dead... BTW, NOAA did not miss the forecast last night! They had forecasted 22F for me and it got to 22.1!

The bad news just continues, my current forecast for tonight is 25F, down from a toasty 28!

jsvand5, what damage have you gotten so far on your tropicals?

Thanks Bluepalm...I absolutely agree, Good Riddance!!Good luck to you and everyone else!

Mostro, hope your citrus recovers.

I give up trying to figure out my actual low. My old min/max thermometers said 28. My new digital says 28.9. Unlike yesterday, one of the more substantial local weather stattions did show below freezing temps from 2 am through 7 am. The low at that station was 29.5. But, other station around me only seemed to dip to just above freezing....in the 33-34 range depending on the station. Walking the yard this morning I found frost on the car top and roof, but only light frost on the grass. I still did not see the kind of damage that I would expect with 5 hours of sub freezing temps. So, who knows. I am thankful that I have gotten away as well as I have....whatever that turns out to be once the damage finally shows itself fully. I hope everyone finds better than hoped for damage assessments. Good luck everyone.

How long does it normally take to see all the cold damage on Tropicals and Mango trees?

Lost all my lychees, massive dieback on the blacksapote. 32812, Orlando Jan. 5(30)
6(27-28)
7(27)
My glenn mango is hopefully gonna make it, leaves are a little brown. Yes it is a pain covering all this by yourself. I actually saved many plants with a thick covering of dry spanish moss and 6 mil plastic perimeter.

Harry:
I would go with the new thermometer's reading... In my experience, temperatures around 29-30 do not cause the kind of damage that one would imagine some times... One night last year, It dropped to 30F at my house for over four hours, I did not cover anything at all, I mean nothing was protected what so ever... For some reason, I was unable to find freeze damage on any of my plants. Even the very tropical keylime made it without problems, go figure?

Also, the temperature can be two-three degrees different in areas that are just 3 miles away from each other... Trust me, us Florida z9'ers look at these temperature things very closely every year...

Something else that can trick you is that temperatures can drop really fast, but just for 10 minutes and then, come back up just as quickly. The ten minute drop would not cause any plant damage, but your digital thermometer will still register it as the low... You know, the amount of time at a given temp is equaly as important as the temperature it self... Most weather stations (NOAA) take temp readings once per hour, so a lot of the short 1-3F drops are never registered...

I hope this helps clarify some things for you...

Good luck again to all!

I was at 18 when I woke up this morning. Looks like one more cold night before we start getting back to normal.

Mostro, My tropicals are all fine. The tropicals never see a temp below around 40-45 and the ultra-tropicl stuff never gets below 60. The citrus look very sad. I think the fruit is toast and most of the outer branches. I think the trees will make it though. It's going to suck pulling hundreds of ruined grapfruits and lemons off of the tree. They say for the next week or so the fruit should be ok until the damage starts showing up. Kind of tough to eat 300 grapfuit and probably 200 lemons in a week. Especially when I hate grapefruit. I bought the tree because my wife (Girlfriend at the time) said she loved them. She has probably eaten about a dozen total in the seven years since I bought the tree. Ever since then I only buy the trees I want.

Thanks for the info and wishes, Mostro. I did some further yard walking and found some clear indications that my temps were as indicated. I have some plastic pots with no holes that I keep water in for the dogs and other critters that may happen by. The pots had a 1/8" frozen surface....and that was at 9 am. The back of my pick up truck had some water in it left over from the rain. It was also mostly frozen at that time. Seems the worst damage so far is in the vegetable and herb garden. Zuchini leaves look like wilted lettuce after a freeze. Tropicals most affected are jakfruit, abiu, caimito, and the very newest of mango leaves. My digitial thermometer doesn't tell me how long temps remained low......but the local private weather stations are mostly rapid fire and give temps every two or three minutes. That station had 5 hourse below freezing and a low of 29.5.

Did all of your mango blooms make it? I hope all of the newly formed mangoes don't fall in the next few days. I wonder if they might re-bloom if the freeze did damage them?

It is really hard to tell what the short term damage is going to be. I do not have fruit drop, so far. As far as I can see the blooms do not even look blasted. I am hesitant to declare survival of these mango inflorescences. Give me two weeks and we will know. I think it is possibly early enough to have secondary bloom if this one fails

i just checked my Rosigold florescence, seems normal

My low last night was 25.7...the coldest it has been since I've lived in Florida (almost 5 years). My forecast was for a low of 31, so the forecasters were only off by a mere 17%.

Bluepalm

My forecast was 31, observed temp was 20. To say the least i am devasted because I lightly protected some plants and some none at all. We will see how things fare....o well

Mine was 25.7° also at 7:00am...Here's what my so called lawn looks like. It got as low as 22° and hovered between
25° to 27° for at least 8 hours...Worst morning EVER since this whole mess started!

What used to be my Lawn...
{{gwi:1305547}}

Here are some pics I took this morning. We broke the low temperature record set in 1970 this morning. Here's a Black Sapote on the NW side of my house. It sits under a large oak so that has been some benefit. It has been left uncovered this entire cold snap. The trunk is wrapped however. It is wilted with some tender growth and leaves blackened, but by and large it performed much better than I had expected.
{{gwi:1305548}}
Here are my bananas. The banana in the center (that looks like all the other ones) was sprayed with Freeze Pruf.

Here is my Glenn mango next to an 8' ladder. I had to tie the branches back in order to get it to fit inside the frost cloth:
{{gwi:1305550}}
My Jaboticaba seems to have done very well in this cold snap (and did well during last year's cold too):

All in all it looks like my tropicals/sub-tropicals will be fine. I have some damage on my Areca palms, my Carpentaria palms, my Panama Rose, etc. My pineapples look fine (maybe 5% damage). My black bamboo (Gigantochloa atroviolacea) has about 10% freeze damage (mainly on the smaller, thinner growth). I will have some minor limb dieback on my mangos, and my Muntingia tree (Strawberry tree) looks pretty sad but should be o.k. It is not very tall because the past two years raccoons have climbed it and snapped the tree in half:

I got lucky last night...
My forecasted low was 25, but it only got down to around 29F, I always like it when this happens...

My citrus seem to have made it with very minor leaf damage. However, we will see what happens in the next few days. The temp dropped to 22.1F yesterday and the oranges and grapefruit looked like hell in the morning. By the afternoon they looked mostly alive, but the leafs turned kind of yellowish, I am not sure what to think of it...

My protected fruit trees, mangos, guavas, keylime, and sapodilla seem to be in perfect shape... Thank god!

The only bad thing so far is that my Mexicola Grande avocado is dieing very rapidly. I think it was grafted on a cold tender rootstock and the rootstock froze... That really sucks, I paied lots of money for that plant...

Good luck to all of you in central FL, hopefully the cold damage is minor and your trees recover soon...

Interesting about how the coverings are working very well (so far!) ... That is the method i use up here in the spring when trees blossom early. A person really needs to have an arsenal of cloth, fabrics, plastics, heaters, lights, framing, scaffolding :) !

Franktank, an arsenal indeed. Here is a pic of just my front yard. My side and back yard are filled with covered plants too!

Great News Bluepalm...Great pictures!
I'm so happy for you guys that sustained little or no damage.

My lychee trees are def. getting major "pugged" in spring. Severe damages...Tons of "fried" leaves and branches...I didn't cover them and relied on FP which didn't work at all! I haven't uncovered the Mangoes yet...my forecast is 33° tonight and I'm not taking any chances in case the temps dips below even one degree. I will uncover tomorrow.

Thanks for the great pictures and Congrats!!

Hopefully the lychees are still alive Pug even if you have to cut them way back. They seem to take pruning well so hopefully they will com back as good as new this summer. I hope we are due for a mild winter next year because this is getting out of hand.

Thanks Jsvand! I don't mind hard pruning the lychees as long as the tree itself makes it...I guess only time will tell. Lancetilla blooms are def. dead but NO surprise there.

My low was 31°, so I'm glad I didn't remove the covers...had frost this morning. I REALLY hope this is it for the rest of the year. I'm afraid to take the covers off and see what's underneath,lol...

Bluepalm, the Fl Oak trees around your property was a blessing. I'm sure that help protected a lot of your trees, acted almost like an extra layer of blanket above. I'm glad you had minimal damage.

Here's to a milder rest of the winter for us!

Ok, here are the low temps for the first 14 nights of 2010 in my yard at jax/32224...

Nights in Jan/2010:
1-2 == 37.4F
2-3 == 29.3F
3-4 == 29.0F
4-5 == 28.5F
5-6 == 27.3F
6-7 == 25.0F
7-8 == 37.2F
8-9 == 30.5F
9-10 == 25.2F
10-11 == 22.1F
11-12 == 28.9F
12-13 == 28.6F
13-14 == 30.5F

I hope it does not happen again for at least 10 more years!

You and me both!!

Yikes.......those temps will sure curl a tropical leaf. I "third" the motion on the 10 year (at least) period of time.