Record low September temperatures could affect Amarillo’s home gardeners vegetation
AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - The cold weather could affect home gardeners in Amarillo due to record low temperatures in September.
“We’ve never been this cold this early in the season,” said “Doppler” Dave Oliver, chief meteorologist at NewsChannel10.
Over 36 hours, Amarillo went from high 90′s in temperature to a low of 30′s in temperature.
Oliver says this is the earliest time of the year Amarillo has been in the 30′s, and says he expects the cold weather to continue throughout the month.
“This is an unprecedented early cold snap. So that has everybody wondering what are we getting into this winter,” said Oliver.
The record low temperatures are specifically making home gardeners worry about the life of their plants.
According to the Chemical Scrub Manager at Pete’s Greenhouse, the number of home gardeners has increased significantly this year.
“This year, it’s been a huge amount. Due to everybody being in, not being able to go out much, we’ve seen a huge spike in gardening this year,” said Shane Goddard, chemical scrub manager at Pete’s Greenhouse.
Goddard says due to COVID-19, there have been 50 percent more home gardeners in Amarillo.
He says he and the whole gardening community weren’t expecting the cold to come this early and it could be detrimental on vegetation.
“When it gets really cold, it will pretty much kill them,” said Goddard.
Goddard says the vegetation that are in more danger are tomatoes, peppers, green beans and squash.
These vegetables can be more effected by the cold during their first few months of growing.
Goddard says two months ago is when he started seeing the increase of new Amarillo gardeners.
He recommends new ways that gardeners can protect their plants.
“Use a frost cloth if you have one. you know possibly a blanket, something to protect them to keep that cold bite off of them,” said Goddard
Goddard recommends sheltering your plants as soon as possible.
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