Protecting Your Plants From The Cold

A blast of cold air has covered much of eastern Oklahoma. Communities across eastern half of the state remain under frost advisories and freeze warnings for the next couple of days. It's not unusual

Thursday, April 5th 2007, 6:15 am

By: News On 6

A blast of cold air has covered much of eastern Oklahoma. Communities across eastern half of the state remain under frost advisories and freeze warnings for the next couple of days. It's not unusual to have a light freeze this early in April, but there are steps you can take to make sure your plants are still alive next week.

The folks at Southwood Landscape and Nursery in Tulsa covered and moved many of their fragile plants indoors on Wednesday.

6 In The Morning â€˜Dirt Dude,â€™ Steve Smith says you want to protect any soft stemmed plants, begonias, petunias and other annuals over the next couple of days. "You want to trap heat as early as you can so if you're covering try to cover at 5 in the evening, and just leave them covered and donâ€™t uncover until late in the morning."

Steve Smith recommends using black or clear plastic to cover plants, but he adds, watch out. The material generates heat quickly, so you donâ€™t want any of it to physically touch your plants. You should remove the plastic in the morning, before you go to work. Other items you can use to cover up or plants include sheets, clay pots and even leaves.