After 22 years of luck (mostly 8b winters)- we have been nailed!! Tuesday we had heavy rain that changed to thunder sleet at about 5A. Temps dropped to 19* by 10A and we had about three inches of sleet and slush that turned to solid ice w/ 40 mph winds most of the day + electricity black outs for two days. Tues had a high of 21* and a low Wed morning of 15* followed by a 21* high. Thurs had a low of 17* and high of 25*. Fri morning brought us 6" of snow- we reached 28* and the melt had begun. We got back to the 48* on Sat and upper 40's today. I fear this extended duration will be very damaging to citrus & palms. Not sure what will survive this or the effect will be yet. I protected all of my smaller citrus and palms. I banked soil and mulch 2' deep around the larger citrus and used soil filled 15 gal pots around the smaller ones. I defoliated a large butiagrus and wrapped w/ Christmas lights and blankets. Too early to tell the extent of the damage, but I am surprised so far at the lack of foilage damage on some (juanita, bloomsweet, keraji, t ville citquat, changsha, etc). Many tender ones are showing signs of defoliation: nova, clemenule, fairchild, page, taichang?, variegated calamondin. Have not found any stem or trunk splitting. Hopefully many hardened off as we've had lows in the low 20's three weeks before this. I'm sure more damage will show as the temps warm up. This is the worst cold here since 1989. Hoping for some survival surprises! I still have a refrigerator full of fruit from Dec harvest: bloomsweet, kumquats, satuma, page, nuclem, clemenule, keraji, juanita and several Dr. Brown hybrids). Hope winter is kind to your plants.
