As Baldwin County and coastal Alabama brace for extreme cold and maybe even snow, now is the time to prepare your plants to make it through.
For citrus trees and other plants that are planted …
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As Baldwin County and coastal Alabama brace for extreme cold and maybe even snow, now is the time to prepare your plants to make it through.
For citrus trees and other plants that are planted into the ground, Kitti Cooper with Cooper Farm, and author of GCM’s bi-weekly column on organic gardening called Cultivating the Coast with Kitti Cooper, has tips for preparing them.
Take potted plants and trees inside or put them in a garage or other place to shield them from the extreme cold. Anything that is zoned 9 and up should be brought inside. Cooper said this is typically all house plants and tropical plants.
“Anything that has tender leaves will be damaged,” she said.
If you’re unsure about what plants you should cover or bring inside, Cooper suggests to go ahead and do it.
“If you’re unsure if it can live outside during a freeze, it’s always better to be safe than sorry,” Cooper said.
Canopy your tree with a bed sheet or other cloth, securing the ends to the ground with rocks or something heavy to prevent the canopy from blowing off in the wind. Do this tenting method, she said, instead of wrapping the tree like a lollipop. Tenting allows hot air in the ground to dissipate into the canopy, which she said typically raises the air temperature inside the tent around the tree around 5 degrees.
“If your tree is in a pot, keep in mind that plastic is going to get colder, so those typically I would say to bring into a garage or the house for the night,” Cooper said.
If your tree or plant is too big to cover, focus on the ground and cover the area around it and 2-3 feet up the trunk.
“That protects the root system, and even if the top has freeze damage, you’ll still be able to save your root system and your tree can still grow back,” she said.
Use a comforter or big blanket to create what resembles a Christmas tree skirt.
Water your outdoor plants and citrus trees heavily the day before a freeze, Cooper said. This helps protect the roots and offers more water to dissipate into the tented canopy.
Not every plant will incur damage from every cold front, but Brian Brown, an Alabama Extension regional agent, agreed that ensuring proper soil moisture is an important first step in preventative measure to help protect the plants that may see damage.
“Be sure to water your plants as needed because soil moisture will help absorb heat,” Brown said. “A drought-affected plant will be impacted more than a well-watered one will. Mulching will also help retain soil moisture and prevent heat loss."
After the freeze, do not prune anything. Wait until spring.
“If you begin pruning immediately, what will happen is you put it into shock because of all the different environmental changes that have happened to it, and also by pruning off the dead branches or anything like that, you’re actually removing any insulation for a potential shield if we have another freeze coming up,” Cooper said.
When spring comes and it is time to prune off damaged limbs and branches, never remove more than 30% of the canopy.
