Pretty cold down here in my world too Krebsie....heading up your way to take Momma and the kids for a long weekend in the City. Looking forward to Radio City, Rockefeller Center, seeing a show and all that's good about the City during the holiday.....
Was brutal yesterday. Salt hardly was effective at all. Got up to 20 today so roads are much better. Heading to the Big Apple for the Holidays also. Spending Christmas day in Jersey. Commish and wife are expecting on the 22nd. Hoping to see a new grandchild.
Brrrrr it's cold down here in the Sunshine State!!! This freakish early winter weather is not good for my nerves and tends to gray my hair even faster... :shock: No damage from last night's freeze, it bottomed out at 25 degrees in our cold pockets. We normally run micro jets to raise the temps up in the canopy of the trees during a freeze but last night's freeze was an advective freeze (with wind) and prevented us from running water because you can super chill your trees and kill them in the process. I am working tonight as well, this time running water and flooding as well with water we stack in our 500 acres of resevoirs. Citrus can stand 8-10 hours at 32 degrees with no problem but when it goes below 28 degrees for more than 3 hours we experience fruit loss and wood damage. It all comes down to duration and how long it stays cold. The goal during a freeze is to be one of the lucky farmers who survive so we can take advantage of the price increase. Farming is like shooting craps and hoping you have the winning numbers...Tonight is going to be a little colder for a little longer... :shock: You guys stay warm up there, it looks like the Tundra north of the Florida state line from what I have seen on TV. Ralph
Yes we are.....I promised Momma that I'd take the little guy to see the Rockettes before he was old enough to get in trouble chasing one or more of them.....
Well can we expect high def pictures of your visit to see the Rockettes as a tool to keep us warm in the night..... :wink: Close up shots are much encouraged...
Yawn!!! Well its been a 48 hour day with freezes galore in the Florida farming belt but we are still kicking. We had colder temps for longer durations (we got down to 24 degrees) but in my area damage was minimal on fruit loss. Now the vegetables got hammered and pretty much wiped out so expect to pay big for your winter veggies. This is the third year in a row that they have been hurt and many of them will have to fold up tent for good. Tom - give us a day and we will be warm again like you are. You can always count on us being warm within a day or two...
Keep hanging Ralph.....I'll work on those pics. 8) I'm in Denver right now, fly back east tomorrow.....yesterday 65 in Denver, forecast for snow tonite! :shock:
Not laughing at your plight Ralph. Just thought it to be ironic that we are having spring/fall like weather while the sunshine state is experiencing what it is like to be a polar ice cap. :wink:
Damn I'm glad to miss all of that crap..... 8) It has been cold to be sure for Florida.....but not that bad in the Bay area where I work and reside. I was up in the Bushnell/Lecanto area last weekend because my son played a private party gig up in the woods there and the grass and trees were already brown and dead from frost and I heard it was 21 degrees there this morning.
Terry it depends on how bad the damage is. If it is going on the fresh fruit market to be sold at the store then you have no way of salvaging the crop. If the citrus is going to the processor to be made into orange juice you can harvest some of it but its a race against time before decay starts to settle in. In 97 we had a major freeze that hurt our Valencia crop and we still had two months until we ran Valencias at the plant and lost 40,000 boxes as they fell off the tree, the fruit that did not fall off was harvested at a later date but was mostly dried up. That equates to about about $320,000 we lost on that particular variety. I am growing Florida Peaches now as well and must have a scew loose in my head because they bloom at the coldest part of winter. If we try to stall the bloom it throws us into the late market and puts us against Georgia and the prices make it not worth the price to harvest the fruit. I currently grow Red & White grapefruit, four varieties of tangerines, four varieties of oranges, Peaches, Plums and a few pomegranates. The thought process is to cover your bases in the case of cold weather or other diseases...