Low temperatures call for protecting outside plants, pets

With the forecast calling for lows below freezing Sunday and Monday, many will be reaching for the thermostat.
While that will help heat up the inside of a home, outside pets and plants will need some attention.
For pets it is simply a matter of making sure they are sheltered from the elements.
“You don’t necessarily need to bring pets inside,” Andrew Granger of the LSU AgCenter in Abbeville said. “If you can get them out of the wind and have it where they don’t get wet, you are doing a good job. Most people do a good job protecting their pets.
“Breaking the wind and keeping them dry is the key.”
The same can be said for plants.
“I would definitely protect any tropical type plants you have around,” Granger said. “If you have vegetables, like broccoli or some of these cold crops, covering those would be good.”
Covering the plants can be as simple as covering them with a sheet or blanket. Covering the plants with Visqueen or plastic sheeting is another viable option, one that comes with a reminder.
“You need to make sure you uncover it that day,” Granger said. “If you leave the Visqueen on the plant too long that can cause some damage.”
Protecting the plants from the ground level also serves as a solid option.
“You can use some organic mulch, straw or pine needles,” Granger said of items useful in covering the ground around the plant. “You can use anything that can cover the ground and make it as thick as you can afford.
“It helps protect the roots.”
For those who grow citrus, this particular cold spell should not be too much of a problem.
“Citrus is probably going to be OK unless we get into the low 20s or teens for an extended period of time,” Granger said. “Unless you get low temperatures for an extended period, you usually don’t see too much citrus damage.”
A longer time frame of freezing weather is really what brings the damage to plants. It would have to stay below freezing (32 degrees) for several hours before major damage would be expected to occur.
“I doubt we will see those kind of freezing temperature long enough to cause problems,” Granger said. “If it stays in the mid-20s for long enough, you would have a problem.
“Generally, that is not what happens in this area.”
One area the weather is not expected to affect is the current sugarcane harvest. The weeks-long effort by Vermilion Parish cane farmers is in fact drawing to a close.
“They are about done,” Granger said. “In a few days most of our cane will be out. There are still a few trucks out here but it is about 90 percent harvested.”