Freeze, I thought I lived in Florida!
I’m sure that as you’re reading this, you know by now that the Southeast received one of the toughest freezes in several years. Now I’m from Florida and grew up here. I also did a small stint in Michigan to attend Michigan State University (go Spartans!) but I came back to Florida for a reason…warm weather!
Freeze Damaged St. Augustinegrass
As I drive around town, it looks, well, BROWN! Lawns are brown, shrubs are dead, trees are looking bare…WHAT HAPPENED? Now I know you’re saying I work for a pest prevention and lawn care company, but I’m a Marketing Manager by trade and no technical expert on this subject (even though I get calls from friends all the time asking “What’s this bug?”).
So I had to refer to the lawn and landscape technical experts here in our company to 
understand what this means to homeowners and landscapes. Unfortunately – it can mean thousands of dollars in permanent damage to landscapes. We have had freezing temperatures for a long period of time and that means devastation to many of our native lawns and shrubs.
What should you do to help this? Right now, NOTHING! Last year we had a freeze spell in the first week of February (Not as severe as the one we just had, but still freezing). So if you prune plants now or begin to mow your lawn to short – you could be setting your lawn and plants up for more damage if freezing temperatures return.
I didn’t cover all the specific information on what to do with your lawn and plants because it’s too much to post in this blog. So we’ve prepared a web page just for you that contains tips and information on freeze damage.
At least for the next few days the local weather team is predicting “normal” Florida weather. Now I can thaw out!
