With a freeze warning issued in Marion and Flagler counties, citrus growers are concerned they could lose their harvest or even the entire crop of trees.

“They are coming off really easy,” said Huey Reed, a citrus grower. “That’s one of the reasons we are getting them off now.”

With a freeze warning in effect for the next couple of nights, Reed knows a thing or two about frozen orange trees.

“We are so far north for citrus, south Marion County is more susceptible to freeze than pretty much anywhere else in Florida,” Reed said.

His family has been growing citrus in Marion County since the 1800s. They now have 80 acres, but he estimates they’ve planted and replanted 500 acres in his lifetime after a pair of freezes wiped out the entire groves.

“When you got to replant, you are looking at seven to eight years until production so it’s a big loss,” Reed said.

He’ll be running his irrigation system in low-lying areas at first.

With it expected to be even colder overnight Thursday to Friday, he plans to wet down the entire grove.

It’s a little different than an early season freeze, with ice insulating the fruit. Now the goal is just to protect the trees with the water raising the temperatures out here as much as three degrees.

Luckily except for grapefruit, most of the citrus has already been shipped or is in the family store. But with the trees still at risk, the next couple nights will be restless ones.

“Usually we come out several times in the middle of the night and check on it, see if there’s any ice,” Reed said.

Source - http://www.mynews13.com