Predicted 21 F here last night, but only dropped to 27 F.

I don't see any signs of damage to my citrus trees from the cold--except for the part of the lemon above the roof that was not wrapped--lots of leaves dropped there.

All of the others made it through without any apparent damage, however, I know there could be some damage that doesn't show up for a while. Last year I found some split bark on a few limbs that was apparently from the freeze--fortunately, they had healed without problems.

Two more nights in the mid 20s predicted for next week.

We hit 27 this morning--23 predicted for tonight! They had this pretty close to right almost a week ago, but then raised predictions to just low 30s as recently as Sunday--now back to mid/low 20s.

Our prediction for last night (Tuesday) was 27 and they missed by ten degrees to the warmer. I'm hoping they're off that much for tonight (Wednesday) and tomorrow night (Thursday) as well because tonight's prediction is for 16 degrees and tomorrow nights is for 19.

.....Alan.

Wow Alan!--that would be a lot colder than here--pretty tough to handle for inground trees. Wind has been fierce here--hard to keep covers on trees. The prediction (as of evening news time yesterday) was pretty close at 26--that was what the weather channel had almost a week ago before they started raising it to as high as 32 at one point--then they lowered it all of a sudden--like less than 24 hours ahead of time to be able to prepare.

They are calling for 20 degrees for me in Ocala tonight and 22 tomorrow. I am going to cover all of my smaller citrus, but the larger ones will just have to go unprotected. I am most worried about my already severely damaged Avocado's. I think tonight might finish them off. They are supposed to be able to survive down to 22 degrees so I am hoping it stays just a bit warmer than predicted. I am going to try to atleast protect a little above the graft on them so if they do die back they will hopefully survive above the graft. This has been a strange winter. Really warm until the last couple weeks and now it just goes totally the opposite way. When i bought the avocado's I was really hoping for a few milder winters until they put on some size.

Florida's low temperatures is due to the jet stream. The stream is coming down from Canada in a south eastern direction to Florida, then curling up the eastern coast line. The jet stream is carring the cold weather with it. Good luck for the next few nights. - Millet (1445-)

It is going to be cold in the SE tonight. Here is the forecast for Winter Haven, other areas look as bad, some worse. This is where the Citrus Arboretum is located.

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Winter+Haven&state=FL&site=TBW&textField1=28.0423&textField2=-81.7218&e=0

Ned

It's looking worse every time I check the weather. Calling for 18 degrees now.

Same here--they now have 20 predicted for tonight--at noon the weather channel had 27.

I don't see how citrus even survives in north florida, gulf coast, and lower atlantic coast when you have days into the seventies and then the next day in the 20's. Here in north alabama i can't remember it getting below 10F but it doesn't get as hot in the winter as coastal areas that make the trees more tender.
Also Skeeter, have your blueberry plants started breaking bud yet?

morphinelover,

I noticed a few days ago that my blueberries now have fully formed blooms on the tips and buds ready to break lower on the stems. I have Tiffblue, Premier, Powderblue and Britewell varieties. Zone 8 here and they are in a southern exposure with wind protection. I'm a good bit further north than Pensacola where Skeeter is.

I have one named Arlen that was in full bloom in mid Jan. Misty is starting to bloom the last week or so. I haven't been to the river where I have most of my blueberries, but I am sure O'neil is blooming there. All of the early varieties will be toast after this, but I have quite a few that haven't even thought about blooming--they should do fine. That is the problem with early varieties--you are going to loose the crop a lot of years with late frost (only normally that late frost is late Feb--early March)

Well, for whatever good it will do I used all of my frost cloth wrapping trees tonight. If it goes into the teens I think it'll kill them outright regardless. But they missed last night's prediction by ten degrees so I'm hoping they'll miss by the same margin tonight.

Until I can get more active protection measures set up out there I'm not planting any more in ground trees. These last couple of winters have convinced me the old way of doing things will no longer suffice.

Edited to add: Just checked the thermometer at 9:15 p.m. and we're at 32. Going to be a long night.

.....Alan.