Prevention Tips    Covering     Palm Trees     Turf: After Frost     

Trees &  Shrubs: After Frost     Pruning

        Let me start by saying that we at Lawn Care Extraordinaire have been through many, many freezes and cold snaps over the last 33 years.  We can help you figure out what to do to your lawn and other landscaping now that another arctic cold wave has struck.

  There are several factors that affect your plants during cold weather.  Plants have a higher chance of frost survival under the following circumstances.

1. Plants with good nutrition at the start have higher endurance and are more likely to survive the cold.
2. Beds that are mulched will hold in the heat and protect the plant root systems.
3. Fall and early winter frosts do more damage than cold snaps in January or February.  Plants survive better after gradulaly acclimating to the cold first.

Here are some tips that might prevent damage or death from a frost.

1. Watering plants before a freeze can help protect plants.  A well watered soil will absorb more radiation than dry soil and will reradiate heat during the night.
2. Covering plants will only protect from a frost, not a freeze.  the best way to cover your plants is by placing stakes in the ground around the plants then cover the stakes.  Foliage in contact with the cover is often injured because of heat transfer from the foliage to the colder cover.  Be sure to remove the coverings during the day for proper ventilation.
3. Covers should extend to the ground to capture and hold all the heat from the ground and plant.

Here are some tips that might prevent damage or death from a freeze.

1. Ornamental plants can be protected during a freeze by sprinkling the plants with water.  This keeps the surface of the leaves near 32°.
2. Misting must begin as freezing temperatures are reached and continue until thawing is completed.

Palm Trees: The best way to try to protect a palm tree is to cover the trunk and heart and keep them warm.  There are a few ways to do this listed below. 

1. Stringing Christmas lights tightly up the trunk and up through the fronds is a festive way of providing some additional warmth.
2. Angle 1-2 floodlights toward the fronds.
3. Drape the palm with sheets or a light blanket.  Carefully tie them down or, if long enough, weigh them down with bricks or rocks.  In our opinion, the added expense of a frost cloth is not necessary.
4. Wrap the trunk with a thick blanket in preparation for a hard freeze.
5. NEVER wrap with a plastic wrap.  This holds in moisture that can then freeze.

       Your good grass will suffer from the cold.  Blades will turn purple, yellow and brown and the overall look will deteriorate.  However, the cold should not permanently damage your St. Augustine.  We will continue to apply plenty of fertilizer to bring the St. Augustine turf out of dormancy.  We will continue to apply weed control products until the weather gets too hot.

Most of the existing crabgrass that has been growing in your lawns is now probably dead.  Bermuda grass and nutsedge is also browned out.  Since we cannot control crabgrass or Bermuda grass in a St. Augustine lawn, this is a good thing.  Now that the unwanted grasses are dead or totally stunted, your St. Augustine can begin to thicken and retake those areas in your lawn.  In areas where the crabgrass has died but where there is too little St. Augustine grass left, you may want to re-sod or have us install grass plugs to speed the recovery. 

            Most or all of your “flowering” shrubs and trees will probably be damaged by a hard frost or prolonged freeze.  Hibiscus, alamanda, ixora and bouganvilla are the type of plants that may be killed back to the ground in a severe freeze.  Many other plants that are suited to our rather tropical climate will also be damaged.  Tropical palms, flowering trees and fruit trees could be damaged as well.

             Resist the urge to prune away what appears to be dead in your shrubs and trees.  We may yet get another cold front or two before the warmer March weather arrives.  If you can’t stand the ugly appearance of your damaged shrubs, after 3 weeks you can remove some of the damaged plant material. But, if you prune into the healthy portion of the plant, this will trigger new budding and growth that will be very susceptible to another cold snap.  We do not recommend pruning into the healthy plant material until late February.

            If we are caring for your shrubs, we will begin applying a high quality, 100% slow-release granular fertilizer to all your shrubs in February & March.  This will gently begin feeding your plants which will help them recover far faster when warmer weather returns.  We will not be spraying with insecticides until new growth, warmer weather and insects return.