PLANT CITY, Fla. — Freezing temperatures means strawberry and citrus growers risk losing millions of dollars of crop.
They can burn strawberry plants, especially the more fragile flowers, which produce berries. Vice President of Parkesdale Farms, Matt Parke, said that future berry is what he and his team are trying to protect.
“Right now, we’re just trying to protect flowers, and that’s the most detrimental part of the plant. That’s the most tender part. If it gets damaged, then that fruit will be unmarketable, and we’ll lose the crop,” said Parke.
To prevent his nearly 1,000 acres of strawberries from being destroyed, Parke has begun checking that all equipment is working properly, including sprinklers and diesel pumps.
“We just have to be prepared and we’re going to stay up the next couple nights to make sure that we’re doing everything we do to follow through,” said Parke.
He says if temps drop down to 32 degrees, the overhead irrigation will be turned on to make a thin layer of ice on top of the plant to keep it warmer.
“It acts like an igloo effect or like a cooler. If you want to keep something cold you put it in a cooler, but also, if you want to keep something warm, you put it in a cooler. So, what we’re doing is we're making a layer of ice over top to keep it from getting frost damage,” said Parke.
It’s not just strawberry farmers. Citrus growers are also on high alert.
“We're going to have a long night ahead of us monitoring the temperature,” said Roy Petteway, owner of Petteway Groves Service.
A dip in temperature for too long can damage citrus fruit and the tree itself.
“Right now, our biggest concern is if we have that long-standing cold. That cold that sets in for 3, 4, 5, 6 hours at night,” Petteway said.
Similar to strawberries, irrigation techniques can insulate citrus fruits and protect them from freezing temps.
Petteway said recent hurricanes have already made it a challenging harvest season. Any more damage to his crop would ultimately mean people who drink Florida orange juice would have to pay more.
“We’re hoping it’s not going to be a bad night for us. We're hoping that we’re going to be able to keep working and keep providing wonderful quality beverage and quality OJ for everybody,” Petteway said.
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