Florida Growers Regroup After Taking Third Hit
December 28, 2010 [updated Jan. 4, 3:59 p.m.]
For the third time in as many weeks, a strong cold front dropped Arctic air across the state early last week, prompting the National Weather Service to issue multiple freeze watches and warnings across Central Florida and mainland South Florida.
Freezing temperatures occurred last Monday night into Tuesday morning and Tuesday night into Wednesday morning over much of interior South Florida to the Gulf Coast. Average freeze duration was five to seven hours across the interior to two hours or less closer to the coasts.
Record low temperatures also were recorded around Central Florida last Tuesday morning. New records were set in Daytona Beach (24°F), Orlando (26°F), and Melbourne (28°F).
Mary Lamberts, UF/IFAS commercial vegetable agent, Miami-Dade County Extension, estimates that after driving around, there is no more than 5% damage on top of that experienced on Dec 15. “Our tomato crop has fared quite well in all the cold events. Vegetable fields where solid set irrigation was used have also done more better than those without that type of irrigation,” she says. “Some growers were even able to protect crops from frost damage using big-gun irrigation, though we don’t recommend that method for multihour freeze protection.”
According to Michael Sparks, executive v.p./CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual, for the second and in some cases third time in a month, significant damage was suffered in the colder locations all across the citrus belt. “High ground locations, such as those on the Ridge, have come through fairly well with damage restricted to the lower/cold pocket locations. Hard ice has been cut in oranges as well as a few grapefruit,” he said. “The extent of tree damage is not known at this time, however with the colder temperatures occurring so early in the season on several occasions we should expect for there to be some defoliation and twig damage in some areas of the state. Early/mid fruit is not the only fruit affected. Juice loss/pound solids reductions in Valencia’s should be expected even though the fruit is still young and green. With the multiple events occurring close together and then rapid temperature warm up following we may see some stem damage in Valencia’s as well, causing them to drop. All in all, there is damage to be expected through out the state and the full extent will not be easily determined for several weeks. No doubt the freeze damage of the past two weeks will result in box loss as well as reduced solids.”
Michel Sallin, president and CEO of IMG Citrus says the December freezes has had a big impact on citrus across the state. •ºClick here to see Sallin discuss what he thinks is likely to be the worst freeze event for citrus since 1989.
•ºClick here to read more feedback as was reported across the state.
According to a report from the Florida Department of Agriculture, through December 20, $115 million in crop damage has been sustained from the December freeze events. The total economic impact, including indirect losses felt by suppliers, truckers and restaurants, is likely to exceed $273 million.
The USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Florida Field Office will release a Citrus Freeze Damage Report on Jan. 18. The report will show results of a special survey to be conducted Jan. 10-11. Using the Federal-State Inspection standards, oranges and grapefruit will be cut and scored to record the extent of freeze damage. An assessment of leaf damage by variety and production area will also be included. Maturity tests to determine internal juice quality will be conducted on orange samples collected from groves throughout the citrus region and tested at the USDA, NASS, Florida Field Office laboratory. Additional freeze reports will be issued as needed.
Growers, click here to access the Florida Automated Weather Network’s Cold Protection Toolkit.
Stay tuned for the January issue of Florida Grower to see how to take advantage of cold protection tools.
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