MIAMI VALLEY — The entire Miami Valley will be under a Freeze Warning this weekend, and plants will certainly need to be cared for to prevent damage and loss.
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The warning has been issued from midnight Saturday until 9 a.m. as temperatures will drop into the upper 20s, according to Storm Center 7 Meteorologist Dontae Jones.
“If it gets as cold as they are predicting, there will be injury (to plants) across the board," garden expert Mark Webber told WHIO Radio’s Ron Otto. “We have to protect the one’s that would not be able to recover from cold temperatures.”
There will be injury to plants but there are ways to protect them and prevent losing them, said Webber.
Cool season vegetables and crops could sustain damage if the tissue is not hardened off, though.
>>Rain showers, cool temperatures today; widespread frost expected Saturday morning
Here’s what you can do to protect your plants and crops:
- Summer plants such as tomatoes and warm season vegetables will need covered Friday night.
- Use cloth such as bed sheets and burlap to cover your plants.
- Don’t use plastic to cover. Plastic will make it colder on plants.
- Water your plants aggressively if you haven’t had rainfall before you cover your plants. This gives them heat from below the ground.
- Uncover plants when the temperatures rises to about 35 degrees to allow them to air out and get sunshine.
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