ELKTON, Fla. — As colder temperatures move into Northeast Florida, local farmers are taking extra steps to protect their crops from cold conditions.
At Elkton Flower Farms near Hastings, owner Shelby Brim demonstrated how she prepares her fields weeks in advance when forecasts begin calling for freezing weather.
Brim grows more than a dozen varieties of plants, many of which are vulnerable when temperatures drop below 32 degrees.
“So whenever we see temperatures below 32 degrees, it’s important to keep the frost off the plants. So how we do that? We use frost cloth. So, we anchor it down over our plants to help trap some of the heat that the soil has absorbed throughout the day,” Brim said.
The frost cloth acts as a blanket, helping trap warmth from the ground while shielding plants overnight.
Brim showed how the cloth is secured to prevent cold air from seeping in.
“So we’re going start off to staple them into the ground, and we’ll put one every foot maybe,” she said.
Despite careful preparation, Brim said there are limits to what farmers can control when it comes to the weather.
“I’m sure there’s even some down here that have died already from the cold weather, but there’s only so much you can do,” Brim said.
Cold temperatures can still result in losses, something she says is an accepted part of farming.
“Farming is a lot of gambling, you can win some, you lose some,” Brim said.
Her experience, however, helps guide decisions about what to plant and when. Some crops are more resilient during colder months.
“Freeze and burn and a lot of times it’ll kill your plants if you don’t protect them. The ones that we have planted right now are cold-tolerant, meaning they actually do like the cold,” Brim said.
Brim added that homeowners can use similar techniques to protect their own plants without spending much money.
“You don’t have to have anything fancy like frost cloth, but you can just use bedsheets and just tie it around your plant, or you can bring them inside if you can, but once after the freeze, you wanna make sure you take them off pretty quickly or it can harm them to keep it off for too long,” she said.
While weather remains one of the biggest challenges in farming, Brim said the work never stops.
She hopes sharing her knowledge helps others keep their plants alive through the cold weather.
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