Tips to prepare your home, plants for overnight frost - WECT

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - As temperatures drop tonight and frost warnings go out, everything from pets to plants will need your attention.

You might think it’s time to turn on the heat so you can sleep soundly. While that might not be a bad idea for some people, it could make your next electric bill a bit costly if you’re not careful.

Duke Energy says there are several ways you can make sure your home is weather ready.

“Check around doors and windows to feel for any leaks ... Look for where you might have drafts,” said Jeff Brooks, a Duke Energy representative. “That’s an opportunity for you to come in and maybe take a Saturday project to do some sealing or caulking around your doors and windows. Most of us have enough small leaks around the home that it’s almost like leaving the door open sometimes.”

After you’re done checking for drafts around the house, there’s still more you can do to keep your home warm without hurting your bank account. Brooks suggests opening the blinds on the side of your home that gets the most sunlight and closing them once the sun goes down.

Another energy-saving tip is not turning on the heat just yet. If you can’t stand to keep it cool, at least try to keep it as close to the outdoor temperature as you can manage if you do turn on the heat.

“Every degree you lower that closer to the outside temperature is going to help generate savings,” said Brooks.

Despite dropping temperatures, The Plant Place on Market Street is still buzzing with business.

“It’s just started to get really crazy with all the fall buying,” said Lauren Schafer, who wears many hats at The Plant Place. “Right now is the perfect time to plant when the days are in the 70s, the evenings are in the 50s.”

For new gardeners, the coming frost could spell trouble. Just like your pets, many houseplants you may have put on the porch over the summer will not like the cold and the frost could be deadly to them.

“Their cell walls will expand and fill with water and then tomorrow morning when the sun comes up and defrosts them they will burst and it will basically explode your leaf from the inside out and it will completely rot the leaves,” Schafer explained.

It’s a good idea to put them indoors for the season before you go to bed or early in the morning before the frost takes place.

“Whether it be your vinca or your impatiens that you’re trying to get a little bit more life out of,” said Schafer. “Any of your warm summer annuals, you want to protect them.”

If you have plants that you know won’t love the cold but you can’t bring indoors, there are other ways to protect them.

“You can throw a sheet over them. You can bring them up close to a brick building. Maybe that’s going to hold some heat. You can throw a trash bag over them,” said Schafer. “You really want to make sure that you remove those things as soon as the day breaks tomorrow before the sun comes out. It will absolutely cook them if you don’t do so.”

In the case that you forget to bring those plants in, there is a way you may be able to save them. Though it’s not foolproof, Schafer suggests watering your plant before the sun hits them.

“This will allow your plants to slowly wake up and they won’t struggle as much and you can potentially save them if they did get bit by the frost,” said Schafer.

Though some plants won’t survive the cold, this is the perfect time of year to plant some flowers so they can bloom next spring.

“Pansies violas, brassicas if you’re a vegetable gardener,” said Schafer. “Cabbages and kales and broccolis and lettuces and all of those good things will survive a frost and even a hard freeze.”

You can put these in soil before or after the frost. Either way, you’re sure to have a fruitful season next spring.

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