Frost Protection for Your Southern Garden

With temperatures dipping down into the freezing range in South Florida, residents scramble to protect their precious tropical plants.  This is especially important if you tend to push the limits for your zone, as many of us do!  I live on the Treasure Coast...on the borderline of zone 9B.  In other words, I live just far enough inland not to be officially coastal and just far enough south not to be considered central Florida.  This is wonderful when it comes to pushing the limits with zone 10 or 11 tropical plants.  It's much more difficult when the central or northern Florida climates swoop down to this region.  Additionally, I'm fearful enough of the cold temps to take them seriously, especially after last year's freezing temperatures sent my banana trees to the ground. 

I'm not an overly fussy person, and expect the same from my landscape.  With that said, there's no way I'll jump through hoops to protect my plants and trees.  I believe that if they die, I'm sad, but I've learned I can't grow that variety in my area...period...and I  move on.  However, I do attempt to protect my landscape without getting what I consider "nutty".  Following are a few tips that I found on the internet that may save your plants (and mine) from the frosty temps.

1.  The Obvious - Move It! - if you can move the plant to a protected area, do so (ie garage, covered lanai, shed)

2.   Next Best - Cover It - don't worry about looking ridiculous...everyone else will too!  Use old sheets, tarps, etc. to cover plants from the frost that will settle on the plant.  Last year, I had a new, small brown turkey fig bush that was small enough to stuff into a 5-gallon bucket for protection. You can also wrap sensitive plants such as bananas.  Check out http://www.bananas.org/f2/frost-protection-south-florida-10788.html for step-by-step instructions and photos.

3.  Another method is Watering - a well watered soil will absorb more solar radiation than dry soil and will reradiate heat during the night, thus keeping the plant warmer.  Mulch will help too.  Overly wet soil can lead to root rot, though.
4.  Commercial Freeze Protection Products - check out this link to read about some commercial products that are applied to plants in order to decrease risk of freezing: http://www.crfg.org/tidbits/bkydfrostprot.html

4.  Large Oscillating Fans - keep the air moving around your landscape so the frost cannot settle (I've never tried this method but have friends that are firm believers)

5.  Heat Lamps - If the sun can't warm the plants, bulbs can!  (I've never tried this method either...too cumbersome for me, but I have friends who only use this method)
6.  Use a Windbreak- windshields can help protect against cold wind damage

This is not an inclusive list, I'm sure.  However, sticking with my rationale, if the plants cannot survive a few cold nights with minimal protection, they probably don't belong in my landscape. 

One last tip.  Try your best to refrain from cutting off damaged foliage after the freeze (this is REALLY hard for me!).  Wait a few days to see what will bounce back prior to pruning.  Also, make sure you're out of frost danger for the year before cutting off frost damage.  Fresh pruning will weaken a plant and increase risk of further damage. Check out this link for pruning frost damaged plants in Florida!  http://www.ehow.com/how_5630153_prune-frost-damaged-plants-florida.html

Good luck!  I will post my results once the temperatures stabilize!