{"id":61852,"date":"2026-01-28T23:41:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T04:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=61852"},"modified":"2026-01-28T23:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T04:41:09","slug":"florida-strawberry-farmers-combat-freezing-temperatures-below-32f-by-spraying-fields-with-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/01\/28\/florida-strawberry-farmers-combat-freezing-temperatures-below-32f-by-spraying-fields-with-water\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida strawberry farmers combat freezing temperatures (below 32\u00b0F) by spraying fields with water"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-dominant-color=\"57423f\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #57423f;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"659\" height=\"372\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/58985_strawberries-freeze.webp?resize=659%2C372&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-61853 not-transparent\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/58985_strawberries-freeze.webp?w=659&amp;ssl=1 659w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/58985_strawberries-freeze.webp?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Florida strawberry farmers combat freezing temperatures (below 32\u00b0F) by spraying fields with water, forming an insulating ice layer that keeps plants at a constant 32\u00b0F, preventing deeper, fatal freezes. This &#8220;strawberry igloo&#8221; method is essential for protecting crops during cold snaps, often saving the harvest but causing temporary supply dips and requiring intensive, all-night monitoring by crews.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-dominant-color=\"758d5f\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #758d5f;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"275\" height=\"183\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/images-1-4.webp?resize=275%2C183&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-61854 not-transparent\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Key Aspects of Florida Strawberry Freezes:&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Protection Method: Constant overhead irrigation creates a &#8220;warm&#8221; ice blanket. As long as water keeps freezing, it releases heat and keeps the plant from dropping into the 20s.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Impact on Berries: Cold weather often produces sweeter, more concentrated berries because it slows down the ripening process, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DUCfA_tDUoO\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Instagram users<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Production Risks: Prolonged freezes, especially near Valentine&#8217;s Day, can slow down production, reduce yield, and destroy early buds.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Critical Temperatures: Flowers are damaged below 30\u2218F30 raised to the composed with power cap F 30\u2218\ud835\udc39, while young green fruit can handle 30\u00b0F but suffer damage at 28\u00b0F, says the Strawberry Center.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Labor Intensive: Farmers work around the clock to manage pumps and check for damage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Winters in Plant City, Florida, can be a scary time of year.\u00a0 When the temperature drops below freezing, the strawberries in this self-proclaimed \u201cwinter strawberry capital of the world\u201d get rowdy.\u00a0 Roads begin to buckle, schools are closed, and homes are swallowed up by the earth.\u00a0 The culprit? \u00a0Sinkholes.\u00a0 Sinkholes caused by the 8,000 acres of strawberry fields surrounding the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under normal circumstances, fields of strawberries are quite harmless.&nbsp; The problems start when near-freezing temperatures threaten the crop and farmers turn on the sprinklers.&nbsp;&nbsp; As the water freezes on the plants, it releases just enough energy to keep the plants themselves from freezing.&nbsp; That\u2019s the risk of growing strawberries in Florida in winter; if the temperature drops too low you could lose your entire crop.&nbsp; Freezing that many strawberries, however, takes a lot of water \u2014 a lot more than you might think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida says that each acre of berries needs 6,800 gallons an hour to coat crops in a protective layer of ice.&nbsp; That means a 20-acre farm can use 3.2 million gallons \u2014 the equivalent of five Olympic-size swimming pools \u2014 in 24 hours.&nbsp; It\u2019s about the same amount of water used by the 32,000 residents of Plant City in a single day.&nbsp; With 8,000 acres of strawberries to cover in a 110-square mile area around the city, that\u2019s over one billion gallons of water per day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Florida strawberry farmers combat freezing temperatures (below 32\u00b0F) by spraying fields with water, forming an insulating ice layer that keeps plants at a constant 32\u00b0F, preventing deeper, fatal freezes. This&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"12","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDFcLzU4OTg1X3N0cmF3YmVycmllcy1mcmVlemUud2VicD9maXQ9NjU5JTJDMzcyJnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiRmxvcmlkYSBzdHJhd2JlcnJ5IGZhcm1lcnMgY29tYmF0IGZyZWV6aW5nIHRlbXBlcmF0dXJlcyAoYmVsb3cgMzJcdTAwYjBGKSBieSBzcHJheWluZyBmaWVsZHMgd2l0aCB3YXRlciIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.l3Fm3ScR5OUw526exWaLWRgz-z3PqHw2UM5OFxfTgMoMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":61853,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/58985_strawberries-freeze.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[13392],"class_list":["post-61852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-florida-strawberry-farmers-combat-freezing-temperatures-below-32f-by-spraying-fields-with-water"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61855,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61852\/revisions\/61855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}