Great news SunW!! Glad to hear everything looks nice and green, definitely can't make that claim though. I tell you it sure is a LOT of work...I really hope we don't have to do this every 10-14 days till March! I don't think I have that much energy or strength,lol...At least we're only in a freeze watch tonight...low 30's I can handle! I know we will all enjoy the next 7-10 day break...till the next "warning".

I sure hope we don't have freezes every 2 weeks Pug! Sorry to hear your trees took so much damage. I'm hoping they are all alive when you uncover them! As always, my projects always turn out bigger than I thought they'd be when I started. But I do so love coming home from work in an office and walking around and seeing how all my plants are doing=)

Mango Kush.... it's almost like your psychic message. You post a pic of an Asian Grey Weevil and that night I go out into my garage where I moved all my trees and there.... right in my face at the first leaf I inspect is one Asian Grey Weevil LOL I carefully checked every tree after that. I found a little bit of scale on a few but no other weevils. I am thinking about moving my trees out of the garage tonight since the predicted lowest temps seem to all be higher than 40ish. I did figure out if my Cogshall and PPK get any more than a foot taller they won't fit into my garage. I will have to fall back to the tent and heat method.

Nancy...Still praying to the mango gods for ya :)

John, your green house heating set up seems to be working very well for you if you're not getting any damages at 22 degrees, that's impressive!

SunW...Believe me...I really hope we don't have them that often either...OMG, that would be just awful! Growing plants and fruit trees are definitely very fulfilling and gratifying, gives you something to look forward to after a long day at work...if only the weather would cooperate it would be so much more fun,lol...

Thanks Marin, I can use it! Too Funny about finding the Asian Grey Weevil on your mango tree, its a good thing you only found one! Marin, you will either have to start Pugging your trees after harvest next year or getting that tent ready for winter!

Good luck, Nancy!
I hope your strength holds.... ;)
Have faith, it can't last forever!

I'm enjoying all the resourceful methods of tree protection that have been posted.
As you know, in my zone there's no leeway in-ground...
either it's fully protected, or it's frozen dead.

"Pugging" trees....I love it!


Josh

Hi Josh! This has been a very educational thread...tons of great and useful information. Exactly the kind of info we need to know and hopefully can use for the rest of the winter.

Lol..."Pugging" trees is a term that OhioJay coined for pruning trees, he is one of our very knowledgeable tropical fruit growers here and we have many members here! Who knew when he coined that term, it would be so popular,lol... I think its so cute. I guess my Pug "Max" gets that credit. Thanks Jay!

Here's Max "posing" next to my Cogshall mango...taken shortly after I planted it April '07

My little GH does seem to be working fine. I think everything will be fine this winter until the wife sees the electric bill...

Nancy, Did you check the damage yet? Looks like we are in the clear at least until after christmas.

Hey Guys,
I really hope your in the clear till Christmas. That would be a great christmas present! I couldn't even imagine the stress that this must put on all your shoulders!

Hello Josh,
I cannot say enough about the pugging pruning technique! In one season, my 'Maha chinook' went from being a single stick to now having 7 branches with an 8th on the way! Now, all those tips are going to bloom. Even though it is the 1st yera and I will have to remove all the fruit, I may decide to let one hold. It will make my tree grow slower which for me, is not a big problem.

I hope your staying warm in California! It has been terrible in western NY. Even Al roker was in Dunkirk broadcasting live about our terrible winter storms! That is when you truly know how bad the weather is!
Andrew

I agree, this is an excellent thread! I've learned a great deal and can't wait til spring to put a mango tree in the ground. Though, I've been told it's challenging but I figured the rewards will be priceless and far outweighs any difficulties or risks.

Also, I remember Andrew telling me about "Pugging" or "Pugged" but I didn't understand what he meant, though, now I do!

I hope everyone's tropical fruit trees hold up and makes it through this winter.

-Bo

PUG!!!

I might of missed it, but how did your Mango and Citrus trees fair? Do you have pictures?

I have been praying that they do well for you after all the work and love you have put into them..That Mango tree ought to be appreciative that he/she had a special place in a picture with your pug..That tree is a BEAUTY my friend, AS IS YOUR VERY CLEAN looking canine/human buddy!!

Hoping you and your special plants are doing ok..I would hate to see any of them hurt due to that dreadful New Englan weather that visited you! Great job at riding the cold and I hear 70's for your area for a while..Watch your jades turn even more colorful, a blessing in disguise..!!

I wish I didn't have to wait until April to see those temps..lol

Hi Josh!! Your protection house is the best thing you could of made...I too love this thread and thank Nancy for starting it..I look forward to seeing the follow ups and many nice people, and pugs here..A few of your trees too?

Jsvand....Very nice and LOL....You should see my electric bill with two radiator heaters going at once for my greenhouse and the lights in the basement..lol

Have a great day everyone..

MIke

Hi everyone, well the news is very bad!! My Glenn and Cogshall(backyard) took a really bad hit...80% of the leaves are "torched", my Keitt looks greener...but the leaves looks awful...like all the moisture has been sucked out of them! They are completely dehydrated. I'm sure those will all fall off in a few weeks. The news if very devastating to me. I can't post pictures right now...its heart wrenching!! I have one Cogshall in the front yard...looks much better with about 20% damage and my Carrie took a 20-30% damage.

The trees appear to be alive...but I will have to "Pug" about 80% of the tree, only the bottom part of the tree has any green leaves...the whole sides and top looks like someone took a blow torch to it!

Oh well...I did the best I could! I'm happy everyone else's trees are doing well. At least next year I won't have SO many to cover and protect!

No sympathies necessary...I knew what I was getting into when I started this hobby...its just I had NO idea I would get hit with two "severe" winters back to back. Just think I only have 12 more weeks to go,lol...may not have to worry next year...if none of them make it anyway.

I'll post some pictures of the "torched" trees in a few days after I recover from the trauma...

My husband came home and had a spaz attack over me loading all my trees and plants into the garage and kicking the Corvette into the driveway. I had protect all my babies.... I told him great maybe I can't drive my trees to work but the damn car isn't going freeze to death either!! They all did great and kept warm enough in there to protect the flowers and blooms on the mangoes and the fruit already growing on the citrus trees and tomato plants

puglover______

Best of luck. You have diversified so some mangoes survived better. These last two winters will be the last "freezers" for a while (God wiling). It is you against nature and with nature trying to outsmart nature's whims. Farmers always have this problem. Farming is always a crap-shoot. Now growing mangoes is?

Here is one freeze story. My father and stepmother had a mango tree that died all from a South Florida freeze (circa 1988) all the way down to its rootstock. The rootstock bounced back and after a few years was producing the best yellow little fruits. A bit fibrous but delicious. Better than any supermarket mango.

Marin,
Based on your location and the types of trees you are growing I don't think that you need to be going through all the trouble of bringing those larger trees inside. They will probably be fine outdoors.

Well Andrew - we in California have been "blessed" with 60's and 70's daytime and upper 40's 50's at night - but guiltily so, after reading everyone's tribulations with the record cold over there in the East.

You guys in Florida need a little R&R after your last week of seeing way too much overly-fogged breath and plastic and heat lamps.....

Orchard Harry - you doin' ok???

Mangodog

HI murahilin... are you here in So Fla too?
I was more worried about the blooms and developing fruit freezing or being damaged. The trees may have been ok for a few sub freezing nights but I was afraid to take the chance. I have 3 small seedling mangoes and 8 cherimoya seedlings that might have not like it so much either. Those pics didn't come out too well in the transfer.

Thankfully, I can say that things could have been much worse.......here, at my house anyway. Total damage won't be fully assessed for about 2 weeks or so. I am of the belief that leaf damage on more sensitive tropicals and some bloom spike burn on the mangoes is going to be it for me.

Harry

Pug - so sorry to hear the damage was so bad!

I didn't get off clean either, but nothing like you. After fully uncovering my trees yesterday, damage was more apparent. I had some dessication on an atemoya branch that was too close to the heat lamp. But not too worrying since it isn't a scaffold branch it was a temporary energy branch I planned to remove later anyhow. The two of my mango trees that are closest to the house are completely good. Definitely get a lot of "heat shadow" off the house. The two mangos that are out farther in my yard where they take the full force of the wind didn't fare as well. They lost the bloom panicles & pea sized fruit. I wasn't going to let them set this year anyhow, but did want to see if the blooms & baby fruit could survive that level of cold. So not a loss, just a learning data point. Since they didn't hold, that tells me that when the trees are large enough to let them fruit I'll need to add some further heat like xmas lights to keep them warm enough to produce. And about 1/4 of the top of the canopy of each of those two trees is bronzed. We'll see how many of those dry up and drop off. Overall, got off pretty lucky I think. Pretty sure it was the one really windy day that did the most damage.

the leaves on my malay apple are scorched (which happened last year and it bounced right back) and my bananas choked up a little

Marin,
I live in Plantation now (a few minutes from Harry's place in Davie) but I used to live in Wellington where I still have a few fruit trees in the ground at my moms house. I don't think you'd have to worry much about your citrus losing the fruit or blooms with the cold we've had. The mango flowers and fruit might get a little bit damaged but probably not that bad in your area.

Does anyone know how long I can leave those "carpet" foam/backing that I wrapped my Mango tree trunks with to protect the graft? I would like to leave them on for the duration of the winter but if it will be bad to leave them on that long...then I will remove them. I was really hoping to leave them on there till March if possible?? Any thoughts?? Thanks!

Marin, my two potted ones did well in the garage too, other than a broken branch on my potted Glenn during that very windy day...the pot fell over and broke a branch, before I had a chance to put it inside the garage. Thank God it didn't break the trunk!

SunW...great news, glad to hear your damage wasn't as bad as mine! I believe you're right...even though I already had quite a bit of damage from the first two freezes from a week and a half ago...I also sustained quite a bit of damage during that super windy freezing cold day. It just beat up the trees and the cold got underneath the covers...

I was wondering the same thing about the tree trunk wraps Pug. I opted to take mine off this past weekend. I think I'd be worried about rot if I left them on all winter. But I have no real evidence one way or the other.

Hi Sun...Unfortunately, I did get my answer this weekend! Not the answer I wanted to hear,lol...I called a large tropical fruit nursery and I was advised to remove them a couple of days or so after the freeze...I had a feeling that would have been too easy leaving them on for the duration. I guess I knew the correct answer...but I was hoping to skip one more step that I had to do every time we have one of these freezes...so I too removed mine this weekend. She said I risk "fungus" on the trunk if I left it on too long...Made sense!

The damages looks so much worse now that the sun has been hitting it...looks like someone used a blow "torch" on it!

Ooh, I'm sad to hear your trees look so bad Pug. I was going to take pics of my damages this weekend, but it rained the whole time. I'll post some when I get a chance. Thanks for the info on the wraps. Makes sense - but yeah, not the answer you hoped for=)

Here are some pictures of my freeze damages from the last two winters. As you can see, how these trees even survived is beyond me. Who knows how much more these guys can take?

Some of you may have seen these pictures before.

Winter of 2008/2009

{{gwi:1335740}}

Winter 2009/2010

These last two pictures are not my trees, but belong to neighbors a few miles from me...both trees were pretty mature. SO Sad! The last picture(tree) ended up dying! The other was slowly recovering, but haven't been by to see how it fared from these last 5 freezes, I'm guessing not well.
{{gwi:1308365}}

{{gwi:1335743}}

I have been thinking a lot of how to protect my mango tree once it goes in ground next spring. And this is what I think I will build to protect the tree when next winter comes.
Built a 4 poles arc frame with electrical conduits. Warp the frame with some type of metal wired fence. Then warp a layer of construction clear plastic sheet outside the fence and leave the top open. Secure the sheet with tape. Mulch the base and get heat source ready.
When the tree needs protection, I just cover the top with a blanket or tarp or both. The frame will act as a wind blocker and the open top will prevent the tree from being cooked by the sun.
I am also thinking adding a layer of Agribon between plastic sheet and wired fence for added cold protection and warp the outer layer with a few rounds of plastic food wrap for added strength against the wind.

{{gwi:1335744}}

JLGarden - Excellent layout and plan.....now I'm assuming you've seen the somewhat similar all-PVC design presented here(pushed over hammered-in-the-ground 18" rebar to hold it in place), yes? It doesn't have the top roof-like design of yours because the whole thing is arched and meets at a 4 part, X connector at the top.

I think yours contains the same principals, just looks a little tougher to build, but seems like it would work just fine to me. Yes, keeping the top open and wrapped in clear plastic throughout the winter and then "hatting" the top of it when the super cold hits seems very practical.....I like the chicken wire for added support of the plastic in the wind, too

Will you add supplemental heat, especially if it hits in the low to mid 20's?

And be honest with us, jl.....are you really planning to only have ONE mango tree?!?!?!!?XXXX

Pugsie - did you say you had them well-covered and heated/lighted? So sorry and sad to see that kind of damage. Do you want to show us this year's damage at some point? (Those big trees all browned out, another sickening sight......) :(

MangoDoginMourning

I've got my fingers crossed for you, Nancy!

I know the feeling of depression when you see your trees like that....but hopefully they'll re-sprout.
I'm sure you know to wait to prune until new growth emerges in the Spring.


Josh

I live in Raleigh NC and I find that on a sunny day with the temps in the 40's, inside the plastic doesn't overheat - maybe 80 but only for the middle of the afternoon. For most of the winter I use just 4 mil clear plastic sheeting. When it gets really cold I add a layer of 6 mil and achor it down with those metal clamps mentioned earlier by someone else. No matter what you do you have to monitor the temps all day and all night. Most of my potted tropicals are clustered inside a wooden tool shed frame that is draped with clear plastic. Through most of the winter a small electric space heater and a fan can keep things above freezing (you'd be surprised the difference a large fan can make. It seems to keep all the frosting on the plastic and not on any leaves inside the structure). For really cold temps I have a small kerosene heater. Kerosene is a great heating fuel except that when burning it emits ethylene which some plants are sensitive to. Another problem is that it can be hard to adjust the wick so your fuel tank can run low without sticking to any regular schedule, you have to check it throughout the night.

A trick I used back when I lived on the great plains where 30 mph winds were the norm - is to pound "t"posts into the ground around a plant or bush. I usually placed two, one on either side but sometimes I used three. I would then wrap plastic sheeting around and around the plant using the posts to keep the plastic away from the plant's leaves. It wasn't pretty but it worked flawlessly for super cold windy winter nights.

John - what kind of tropicals do you grow in Raleigh?

mangofurball

I grow at lot of citrus in pots - Navel Orange, Blood Orange, 3 types of tangerine, Calamondin, Kumquat, sour orange, Changsha, Citrangequat, Key Lime, Eureka Lemon, Variegated Lemons (2). Some of them are hardy forms but only one of them is actually planted outside - Trifoliate Orange. I will probably plant the other hardy forms in the ground this next year because they have finally gotten big enough and I have learned where all the microclimates are in the new yard (I moved earlier this year). I have the normal white guava in a large pot and many of the smaller strawberry guavas - I love these fruits. Small and tasty, I just wish they had more fruit on each tree. I think I have four of them total. I have two large dragon fruits but they have never bloomed or fruited (probably because of the move to the new house). I have two European olives, the Arbequinea has set fruit and is cold hardy enough to go outside so this next year it will go in the ground up beside the house wall. I have one three year old Cherimoya and a bunch of seeds sprouting. I have one baby Sapodilla and one 4 year old Mamey Sapote (both were grown from seed). A dozen or so Lychee from seed - they're now almost three years old. A couple of pineapples, some Taiwan Loquats (not E. japonica) and one Yamamomo or Yumyum Berry (Myrica rubra). In the ground besides all the normal garden fruit I have jujube, medlar, loquat, pomegranite, feijoa, maypop and Jelly Palm.

I'm in zone 7b and with a little bit of protection you can get away with growing a lot of borderline tropicals.

excellent TJ - what a great variety....no mangos....yet...?

I'm a mango addict myself :)

mangodango

Pug - I have watched you and others battling the freezing temp last winter. Resulted in many loses and set back. Believe me, I did feel the pain. I must say Thank You to you and others who have offer so many of your experiences and advices on this forum. I believe I am now in a much better position knowing how to protect my mango tree, should I be brave enough to set it in-ground next spring.

Last winter I put the tree in front of the garage and pulled it in and out when needed. The tree did not got any freeze damage but heavily infected with anthranose. I pruned more than 50% off the tree.
This winter I put the tree on a pallet with wheels. I built a frame around the pallet warp with plastic sheeting. I left only a small opening on top. the tree loves being inside. Wind and rain will not bother it.
I have noted that the tree is now has bud swelling. That was never happened last year, not until April. So my though is, if my tree is well protected, it can bud out the same time as those in south Florida.

Mangodog - For fruit trees, I now have one Nam Doc Mai and a kumquat. Those I call large. The rest are seedlings. I have a pummelo seedling that I grafted 3 varieties on it. Grafted a tangerine on another seedling, a kaffer lime, 2 pineapple grow from crown, some champagne mangoes, sugar apples and cherimoya. They are all seedlings. The cherimoya seeds were sent to me from Bo. Thank You Bo :) I will looking for scion to graft onto this seedling in the future. I enjoy the fun of growing, learn the technique and get involve in all the steps the tree growth. I will be happy and busy with these trees for a while.
Mark

I came back to check on you guys. Pug that is why you alerted me about the ground planting. Thank you for helping me/us.
I am sorry about all this problem. I still do not have any tree but I can imagine the feeling of losing a tree when you for years care for it. It is sad looking at the pictures :(

jlgarden - I had a very similar idea as the picture you posted - making a shelter with a "hat" that can be taken on and off. Conceptually it sounds great, but in practice it doesn't work very well. I actually built a prototype and tested it. The "hat" on my prototype was a square piece of plastic, anchored at the 4 corner posts. It also had grommets on each side and a rope strung through them to cinch it closed. Despite the cinching, the hat still acts like a wind scoop, funneling cold air into the shelter. I set up my tester on a moderately breezy day (like 10mph) and stood inside it. The amount of wind getting in under that hat was easily enough to snuff out a lighter flame held at around 5' off the ground (inside a 8' shelter). Overnight temp tests with a thermometer also showed that the "hat" design provided very little protection compared to the design I actually went with (see photos above). So while it sounds good on paper, I would not recommend this method. Other thoughts - double layers of plastic/cloth may help, I'm not sure. But the big thing is you need to find a way to secure down the bottom edges. Weighting them like I did with pavers was not enough. I think for your zone, you would need to do something like build a wooden frame at the base that you could literally staple or clamp your plastic into. In my case, I think I could have gotten a bit better protection if I had left about another foot of plastic on the bottom, overlapping the ground (I left only about 6"). Sounds like you are headed down the right path tho - doing lots of research in advance. Good luck! Would love to see what your design looks like when you are done.

Trianglejohn - do you have any pics of your t post setup? I'm particularly interested in how to keep wind from getting in under the edges of the plastic that touch the ground. That was were my primary heat loss is. Nice collection of plants! What does a Yamamomo fruit taste like?

sun worshiper - no photos, sorry. I used random scraps of clear plastic sheeting (left over drop cloths) so there was a lot of extra to hang over the top or wrap loosely around the bottom. I did this at my old house when I was trying to keep some small bushes and tomatoes and peppers going through the first cold snap. It was one of those after work events when I had to try to salvage a lot of the garden all by myself. I already had t-posts beside most of the plants and putting in a few more was not a big problem. Wrapping the post frame with plastic didn't take long and using those metal clips kept everything secure. I could fold the extra plastic over the top to seal in the "envelope". Later in the week when the sun came out and things warmed up a bit I could easily undo the top flap and vent the tent by folding back the plastic and leaving the top somewhat open. I imagine anything with some weight could be used as weights to hold down the bottom edge.

Mangodog - I will probably end up with a few potted mangoes. I live near a huge Asian market and can buy mangoes pretty cheap. The new house has a 50 by 29 foot asphalt pad (used as a basketball court) that will someday be turned into a greenhouse. When my potted fruit trees get too big to slide around in pots I will cut holes in the asphalt and plant things in the ground.

I forgot to mention my pride and joy - a 5 year old chocolate tree. I got it as a seedling and for years I moved inside for winter and back outside for summer. It finally got too big to move easily (the pot is small but the tree is huge) so it now lives completely indoors. It is big enough to bloom this next year so I have my fingers crossed.

Well, going to freeze again tonight. Put the shelters up again today during wind gusts of up to 30mph. That was a challenge!

For the record, here are some shots of the damage from the last go around. Nothing was fatally damaged, but there was some damage.

Angie Mango - Blooms completely killed and some foliage damage:
{{gwi:1335745}}

Rosigold Mango - Pea sized fruit killed and quite a lot of foliage damage:
{{gwi:1335746}}

Bananas have foliage fried, but stalks are still green and alive. Notice the Cogshall mango between the 2 mangos. It is perfect - no damage at all. This spot is much more protected from wind than the other two mangos:
{{gwi:1335747}}

Closer view of the Cogshall:
{{gwi:1335748}}

And here is the fruit on the Ice Cream Banana. Hard to say if it will mature or not, but it doesn't seem damaged yet. And I have nothing to lose by letting it hang until spring to see what happens. It was definitely not ripe now:
{{gwi:1335749}}

If anyone is interested in other tropicals - the bamboos took the worst damage (hawaiian gold & black timor):
{{gwi:1335750}}

They were totally unprotected, and their foliage is fried. Won't know if the culms will live or not until spring. But these froze to the ground last year, they'll come back from underground just fine. The giant white bird of paradise is quite a bit more sensative than the small yellow kind. The yellow small ones weathered 24 degrees fine with no protection. The giant white ones I covered with a blanket but no heat, and they took a small amount of foliar damage.

Oh, and no pic, but my hong kong orchid was nearly defoliated & all blooms were killed, but all branches are alive.

Here's hoping the next few days aren't as cold as the last freeze. So far the forecast is for 29.

Trianglejohn - thanks for the additional details. The envelope concept is interesting.

Hi everyone, its been crazy around here with the Holidays! My daughter is home for College break and she's keeping me very busy :o) Hope everyone had a GREAT Christmas! Thanks everyone for the well wishes for all of us here in Florida battling the freezes yet again! We can use all the good vibes right about now.

Mangodog, Yes I had them all covered, but during the first freeze...I did NOT have them all protected with lights, the first freeze caught me completely un-prepared, so I think most of the damage happened then...plus the 40 mph wind did a number on them as well...the cold wind just beat them up! My damages this year is very similar to the first photo I posted...some a little worse...its pretty severe.

Sun, glad to see the trees are alive...it is amazing how some locations make all the difference in the world. Thanks for the photos...I'm so glad your Cogshall looks great, I actually have one that is in pretty good shape too, but after tomorrow night...who knows what it will look like?

They are calling for 27 degrees tonight...but the worse is yet to come because they just lowered my low's for tomorrow night to 22 degrees. So even with them covered and with 250 watts light underneath...best case scenario we're looking at 5-6 degrees protection... I'm still looking at 27-29 degrees inside the shelter, not enough to keep them in the safe zone...only time will tell? All I can hope for is the forecast is wrong!

Good luck to everyone! Keeping fingers crossed and hoping for the best!

Hi Nanci,
I am so sorry to hear this! I really thought that maybe the weather was finally going back to normal again. That is certainly the case in my neck of the woods! Days have been in the mid 20's and same with the nights. We have not had measurable snow fall since that massive snow storm assault that begin mid November and lasted till the forst week or 2 of December. At the rate were going, the snow that is on the ground will have melted and we may even see green grass! That would be nice but I don't see it happening. Not with January right around the corner. I am still patiently awaiting for the inflos to emerge from the Maha Chinook.

I hope everyone had a great holiday and I wish everyone the best of luck during this cold spell.
Andrew

Hi Nancy. Glad you are having a good holiday. I had a a great Xmas.

Last night my low was 30, and tonight is calling for 29. Not nearly as cold as 22! Good luck! I'm glad to hear your Cogshall is still doing pretty good. In addition to my Cogshall, my Manilita is also undamaged and is actually pushing out blooms. Again, a more protected spot by the house.

Hope you get blooms on your Maha Chinook soon Andrew!

Angela

Thanks Andrew!

Hi Sun...they just lowered my forecast for tonight on weather underground to
20 degrees... 27 tomorrow night, there is a station about a mile from my house so this one is the closest to me. Keeping fingers crossed it does not materialize.

I hit 26 degrees this morning and they predicted 27...so they were right on the money!

Nancy
I am snowed in up in New Jersey under 3 feet of snow and my plants and trees are on their own until I get home tomorrow night. I hope it doesn't go below the 35 degrees predicted for zone 10 or this will be a big test for what temps my plants and trees can withstand. Hopefully all will be well. How are your trees holding up?

Hi Marin, I think you will be fine...they are only calling for mid 30's for you, so I think your trees should be just fine . My 3 mango trees are severely damaged...with the temps predicted for me I really don't think they will survive. I think its time for me to give up on my inground trees and grow only potted trees next Spring. I'm beginning to think if I'm getting low 20's in December what will be the temps be like in February...15 degrees, lol...I don't see much hope for them. Time for me to accept the inevitable and re-group.

Have a safe trip! Let us know how they do...

How'd you do last night Pug? Did you hit 20 like the forecast said? Last night here was worse than predicted. The forecast was for 29, but I hit that by 2am and was down to 24 by 7am! I registered a low of 30 degrees inside my shelters! My best guess is that inside my shelters was below freezing for about 2 hours. The outside air temp was below freezing for over 9 hours. There was very heavy frost everywhere this morning. I haven't gone out and peeked yet - kind of afraid to look.

Hi Sun! Without a doubt, last night was the worst(as far as the coldest temps) for me so far also...even though we did not hit 20 degrees...Thank Goodness! Its funny you were actually one degree worse than I was...I hit 25 degrees! Like you I haven't peeked underneath the frost cloths and blankets...I left everything covered for tonight. I will see how much further damage I got tomorrow afternoon when I remove the covers. I certainly share your feeling of being afraid to look!

I hit freezing temps at 10:30 last night and it lasted till 8:30 this morning...so I had 10 hours below freezing!

Good luck to us both and everyone else dealing with it! Keeping fingers crossed tonight won't be as bad!

Mango Kush - unless I've missed something, you don't seem to talk much about plant protection - do you live farther south that any of your other FL zone-pushers?

Or did I just have one too many pre-senior moments :)

Pug - my heart like others goes out to you. I'm just afraid these severe and unpredictable winter storms are becoming the norm for many many places....so far California has not seen the cold, but this last round of rain we got last week was indeed like vacationing in a chilly Borneo for a few days. I'm afraid you might be right about potting up the mangos and going "condo" with them...the other alternative would be a sturdy greenhouse....

Wimpering for you tonight.....mangopug

Mangochien,tu parle trop vite! Another downpour tonight and tomorrow. My backyard is so saturated I don't know how much more it can take. This storm will be a lot colder than the last one they are predicting 38F for tomorrow night.

Last night was the coldest yet! The all time cold record for this day was smashed by 10 degrees! I hit a low of 23.4 and it was below freezing for 11.5 hours. Inside my shelters bottomed out at 30.8 degrees at 7am.

Haven't peeked into the shelters yet today. I peeked under the edges a bit yesterday afternoon, and my lychee that had some growth that hadn't hardened off took a bit more foliage damage. Damage on anything else wasn't apparent - they looked about the same.

Here are a few pics at sunrise today.

Crazy mist rising off the retention pond & my Veinte Cohol banana. Astoundingly between the lights, screen and proximity to water even its leaves still have a bit of green in places. And the trunk is definitely fine.
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Heavy frost on the lawn & all my shelters waiting for the sun to start hitting them:
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How'd everyone else do last night?

Sunworshiper you have a beautiful property, are you on the Ocean or the Gulf? I cant tell where the sun is rising in that picture

Thanks Mango_kush! Neither actually. I'm in central FL, in Oviedo (zip 32765). I got lucky when I bought my house that it had a beautifully shaped piece of property. There is a retention pond behind my house (in the picture), so I have very little back yard, but it still looks big. And there is a large sideyard on the south side of my house (where all the fruit trees and shelters are). I spent most of the summer landscaping that side turning it into a mini orchard - it started as a nearly blank slate. On the west side of my house and one row of houses over is a large 2 mile long lake. Being on the east side of that big lake gives me a bit of microclimate protection and that is where the mist in the distance behind the shelters is coming from.