As the first cold snap hit the Sunshine State earlier this week, Jennifer Bearden, a University of Florida Extension agent in Okaloosa County, shares how strawberry growers help protect their susceptible plants.
Bearden says one of her growers uses row covers to protect the berries, while others use overhead irrigation or no frost protection at all. She says the growers who used the row covers had ripe berries.
And she says it’s common to have temperatures in the low 20s and even 10s this time of year, but it’s still important growers protect the crop.
A challenge with the upcoming cold snap, Bearden says, is that snow or ice that could help insulate plants, but the pending forecast looks like it will just be freezing temperatures.
“It will be critical for our growers to protect their strawberries if we get as cold as they are forecasting,” she says. “Buds in the crown can be injured at 20 degrees. New leaves can be injured below 28 degrees or so, and open blooms are injured below 30. We are currently forecast to be at 21 degrees.”
And she says this comes at a time when growers are looking to ramp up production or maintain production to meet the upcoming Valentine’s Day demand.
“One of my farms already has berries, and they would like to keep them growing so they have some berries for Valentine’s Day,” she says.
With overhead irrigation, water radiates heat as it freezes on the plant, which Bearden discusses in her video.
“It is a fine art to learn how to apply the right amount based on temperature, wind and humidity,” she says. “They start with ¼" of water per hour and adjust for wind and humidity.”
Another big worry for Bearden is protecting crops from freeze events while also mitigating diseases such as Neopestalotiopsis.
“Neopestalotiopsis can be spread by overhead irrigation, and it can spread under the row covers,” she says. “Also, these cold snaps can interrupt fungicide spray schedules.”
She says the grower with row covers took the covers off during a slight warm up and will spray the plants and cover before this next cold snap.
“This farm has one row that doesn’t have a cover, so it was hit hard by the last freeze event,” she says.
As for the upcoming storm, she says her grower with row covers is prepared and ready for the cold, but the growers who use overhead irrigation and those who don’t use any freeze protection, that’s another story.
“I think the ones that use overhead irrigation are not looking forward to losing sleep in order to monitor the irrigation,” she says. “I think growers without freeze protection may be nervous about this upcoming cold snap as we may see teens, which will impact the plant and yield potential. In 2025, the snow insulated the plants from our low temps; -12 was the lowest recorded during that period. The plants likely won’t have snow to insulate them this year.”
