The freeze from February was so intense that over a month later we're still dealing with the fall out in the garden even as everything is coming back to life.
One of the harder hit plants were the citrus plants that can be found all across Acadiana. These days they are easy to spot with their fried brown leaves standing in stark contrast to the lush green.
The first instinct is to cut them all down and declare them dead, but that may not necessarily be the case.
While the leaves may be dead and brown, that's just the tree's response to the frost. By killing and dropping it's leaves, the tree is protecting itself by conserving energy.
Those leaves are still falling, but along some branches there may be signs of growth. Those new growths mean that the tree is still alive and working to bring itself back after a cold shock to the system.
While growth on the branches is a good sign, any growth occurring near the soil line means that the graft root has taken over and the tree is a goner.
It seems like the best thing to do would be to add fertilizer to help the plant out, but this can be counter productive.
Fertilizer encourages even more new growth with tender leaves sprouting out even more which opens up the plant to pests and disease.
This can already be a tough time of year in south Louisiana as plenty of insects emerge for the summer and the heat starts to set in so you want as much established foliage as possible.
Unfortunately, we likely won't get much fruit this winter but at least we know the plant is alive.
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