ORLANDO, Fla. — After this weekend’s arctic blast, Central Florida farmers are assessing the damage to their crops.
“We’re going to go through and make sure the irrigation lines are working because tonight we will have another freeze,” Tara Boshell, with the Showcase of Citrus, said. “We don’t want to chance anything. If they made it 2 nights, we want to keep it going.”
Boshell believes that the majority of their 4,000 trees will likely experience some degree of damage due to the cold.
“Because of the winds we had 2 nights ago, it blew all of the irrigation mist toward the east,” Boshell said. “It put a lot of additional ice on some of the branches. When all of this melts off, we’ll probably see some split branches.”
This grove was reset three years ago and is expected to produce next year.
Boshell said that because of the freeze, she expects a smaller harvest of the crop.
“We’re going to see a lot of damage,” Boshell said. “With the maintained below freezing temperatures from 12-15 hours per night, then it heats up and freezes and heats up and freezes, I’m expecting to see more damage than I am now.”
It’s damage, she said, that can make or break a farmer.
“Mother nature can wipe it out in a few hours, a few minutes, whatever it takes,” Boshell said. “Just keep our fingers crossed and do what we do.”
The assessment of the grove will continue over the coming days and weeks. Boshell hopes damaged branches can be trimmed and most of the trees can be salvaged.
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