BARTOW, Fla. — As freezing temperatures move in, citrus growers are working to protect their crops from the cold.
Third generation citrus grower Katie Bevilacqua runs Golden Ridge Groves and Market with her husband in Bartow. She told me they are preparing their oranges, grapefruits and strawberries for a deep freeze, something that can devastate an entire season overnight.
WATCH: Polk County citrus growers brace for freezing temperatures
“A prolonged freeze can damage the fruit, it can damage the buds, and it can damage young trees in general, so it can be pretty catastrophic,” Bevilacqua said.
Polk County is under a freeze watch from late Thursday night into Friday morning, with temperatures possibly dropping as low as 24 degrees. To protect their crops and sensitive vegetation, Bevilacqua said they are using irrigation to coat the trees with water, creating a layer of ice that helps insulate the fruit.
“As the water hits the tree, it emits heat, keeping the tree at 32 degrees while it is colder than that in the air,” Bevilacqua said.
She said their grapefruit will be less susceptible to freezing temperatures because they are inside a unique enclosure called Citrus Under Protective Screen (CUPS), designed to keep out the insect that spreads citrus greening.
“In the CUPS structures, it’s about 10 to 15 degrees warmer on average, and then it also really cuts down on the windchill, so there’s not a lot of whatever is going on outside. It’s very minimal in the CUPS structure,” Bevilacqua said.
Bevilacqua said they will be watching the forecast closely through the night, ready to make adjustments as conditions change.
“We’ll be out all day and all night Thursday and Friday to make sure that we’re running the water when we need to and turn it off when we need to, and it’s really an hour by our situation,” Bevilacqua said.
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