Ian Table examines his 30 plus banan plants that were "burned" by the recent freezes that hit Lehigh Acres. Photo by Mel Toadvine

While nearby farmers in communities to the east of Lehigh have lost millions of dollars in crops due to cold weather temperatures that dipped into the 20 in some areas, Lehigh Acres residents are also seeing the loss of several plants in their yards.

When Ian Table of Main Place in Lehigh woke up last Wednesday, Jan. 6, he looked out his windows and saw about 30 of his banana plants “burned” from the cold weather. The term burned refers to the freeze of the plant’s leaves which have turned from Green to brown or black.

The 30 seven to eight-feet banana plants were situated along the side of the house he shares with his mother and father.

In the front of the house are more banana plants and they, too, were affected by the deep freeze and are drooping and have turned dark.

Residents all over Lehigh lost all types of plantings during the eight nights of low temperatures. The records dropped below freezing two nights last week and again this past Friday and Saturday night. Daytime highs in Lehigh on Saturday were only in the mid 40s, a record-breaking low for the daytime temperatures for this date in January. And there were light rains and showers in different areas of Lehigh.

Ian Table looks over plantings along his front walk that were also damaged by this past week and this week's freeze in Lehigh. Photo by Mel Toadvine

A few residents of Lehigh covered their outside plants with sheets and blankets and that didn’t always save many plants and small trees. The plants covered with sheets gave the appearance of “ghosts” on Halloween.

The record low temperatures below freezing were reported from a thermometer at Veterans Park Academy for the Arts in Veterans Park. Many nights, it was up to two and three degrees colder in Lehigh than along the Gulf Coast. and it was colder yet in the interior areas such as LaBelle and Arcadia where farmers have lost much of their crops due to the cold spell.

Ian Table said he has a cross between a lemon and an orange tree in the back yard, not more than 50 feet from the banana plants and he hadn’t yet checked, but he didn’t think they had frozen. He said he had just a large amount of the citrus fruit a week or so before and had made 13 gallons of juice.

“I pasteurized the fruit, add some honey and ginger; it’s a pretty good juice.”

“I like to brew the fruit as a hobby,” Table said.

He is a student at Florida Gulf Coast University studying hospitality management.

“What am I going to do? I don’t know about the banana plants, maybe just see what nature does to them,” he said.

Inland, orange growers said many of their trees froze over the weekend despite attempts to keep the air temperatures in the groves above freezing.

The temperatures are expected to improve the latter part of this week with highs back in the 70s maybe on the weekend.

Residents of Lehigh dug out their old sweatshirts and heavy winter coats as they ventured out for food. Heating systems ran continuously in many homes that are not as well insulated as newer ones.

While the cold wave was pounding down on South Florida, temperatures in the north were in the teens and in some areas at zero. In some locations, snow fell and high winds brought chill factors down to sub zero figures.

Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC) sent out a press release last week telling customers to keep their thermostats at 68 and to turn overhead fans on low to push the heat from the ceiling to the bottom part of the home’s living space. LCEC warned that it costs much more to use electric heat than air conditioning.