Helping Plants Recover From Cold - Sally Scalera UF IFAS

A couple of weeks ago, much of Florida saw its coldest weather in many years, with teens in North Florida and 20s in Central Florida even before wind chills. Now many homeowners have fruit trees, hedges and tropicals with freeze damage. We speak with Sally Scalera, an extension agent with the University of Florida's Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences, on how to help your garden bounce back.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gordon Bird here Beyond the News. We've just gotten through
some of the coldest weather that Florida has seen in
more than fifteen years, especially if you were in the
interior or the central and northern parts of the state.
A lot of plants suffered some damage, and a lot
of us saw plants and lawns turn brown, and we're
all looking for ideas and how to get things back

(00:22):
into shape. Sali Scilera is the University of Florida i
fas Extension agent in Brevard County for Urban Horticulture, as
well as master gardner coordinator there, and she joins us
on Beyond the News to talk about how to deal
with all of that. Saliscilera, welcome, thank you. This was
a very widespread cold wave, and especially if you're inland,

(00:46):
a lot of people saw damage. Many areas saw several
hours and even several nights with temperatures below freezing or
even below twenty eight degrees where you start to see
some real damage. So we've got a lot of great
to cover here. I guess let's start with lawns. A
lot of people now have brown and yellow lawns now

(01:07):
and that's happening just as we're getting back into warmer
weather and facing watering restrictions. So what are your tips
for getting lawns back on track after the freeze.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Well, the most important thing to do for the lawn
is to go ahead and continue to water it. So
I believe we pretty much water it once a week,
you know, with half an inch or three quarters of
an inch at one time. So it would be important
to go ahead and continue to do that, and then
hopefully we're not going to get another freeze, so the

(01:38):
grass can get through this, and then once it warms
up and such, it can you know, come back.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
Now. I've heard from people who are saying that their
shrubs and hedges have turned brown, and I've seen that
with some perennials as well. How do we know looking
at those plants, what's dead and what is dormant, and
how we should decide to deal with each.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Well, the biggest part is if it's gone brown, and
we have over here in Barvard we've had a lot
of tropicals planted which shouldn't have been because we're it's
more for like Zone ten A that they were planting things.
So we've had a lot of death over here. The
best thing to do is just weight. If it's woody material,

(02:23):
it's best to leave everything on there just in case
we get another freeze, though I don't think we will,
but if we did, it would actually help to buffer
the other woods so that you wouldn't lose more wood.
And then for succulent plants or things that have like
green stems branches like franjipany those are green, you want

(02:45):
to go ahead and see if they're solid, if they
feel solid versus mushy. Basically, if anything is mushy, wet
or mushy, you do want to cut it below to
where you can find good tissue so it doesn't continue
to travel down. But pretty much it's you know, clean
up the things that are wet and mushy, and then

(03:05):
just wait for the things that are woody to see
what they're going to do. We have some tropical shrubs
over here that not only discolored but also drooped like
the branch has bent. I think they're succulent, so it's
very likely that we could have lost them total because
they're really tropical. And we definitely can get a freeze

(03:26):
here in Barvard, though eighty nine was our last really
bad one, but that was really bad across the state also,
So it happens.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
And obviously some folks have fruit trees in their yard.
I have one that started to fruit way early with
the warmer weather, and those fruits obviously got wiped out.
If you had a fruit tree that was affected and
maybe you lost some fruit, maybe some flowers turned brown,

(03:57):
is there a chance you'll see any fruit this year, Well.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
It depends on it kind of depends on the different
fruit trees and such like that. But I would always
hold out hope because if the tree can, it will
go ahead and flower again. But there's really no way
to call that for sure. But as long as the
tree survives, that's the biggest part. Because even if we

(04:21):
miss out some fruit this year, I don't believe we
deserve to have another freeze like this for at least
twenty thirty more years. So we will be all right
and have a lot of fruit at least in the
fruit future. But there are some trees that might go
ahead and put out, you know, more flowers, depending upon
if it's a peach or a plum. We have mango

(04:43):
over here, things like that, so you know, sometimes you
can still get fruit if we have better weather later.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
So any other advice for people dealing with the lawns
and plants that have been affected by the cold.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
Well, it's really important to continue to water them. I mean,
you're not going to hurt them if you're continue watering
the roots, even if you're not sure if they're going
to survive, you're not going to hurt them at all
by doing that. And if there is a chance that
they're still alive, that's going to be a really important thing.
So you don't want to forget about them and not
water them.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Sally Sclera is the UFIFICE Extension Agent in Brevard County
for Urban Horticulture and Master Gardner Coordinator. Thank you very
much for joining us on Beyond the News.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Thank you