Boys Slide, Growers Take Ice in Stride

Mark Sperling created an impromptu ice-skating rink Tuesday morning when he attempted to wash down the frigid Ventura Boulevard sidewalk in front of his carpet store in Sherman Oaks.

“I figured if I kept hosing it off, the ice would melt away,” Sperling said.

Instead, he found himself with a 75-foot-long ice patch that attracted a playful crowd of boys.

“I knew it was cold,” he said. “But I didn’t think it was that cold.”

Although no records were broken, subfreezing temperatures gripped pockets of the San Fernando Valley and outlying areas Tuesday morning, driving nearly 200 Valley homeless people to emergency shelters and prompting worried Ventura County growers to protect citrus and avocado crops with wind machines, orchard heaters and anti-frost chemicals.

The cold spell is expected to ease today, with Valley night temperatures hovering in the upper 30s to low 40s, said Rick Dittmann, a meteorologist with WeatherData, which provides forecasts for The Times.

Tuesday, Los Angeles city officials reopened the California National Guard armory in Van Nuys to house the homeless for the fifth consecutive night. Since Friday, 434 homeless adults have sought relief from the cold at the armory, said George Pallas, a city homeless program coordinator.

136 Received Vouchers

An additional 136 people, including 62 children, were given city vouchers to stay in Valley motels, said Chrissa Cummings, shelter coordinator for Better Valley Services, a nonprofit housing assistance organization.

Despite the prediction of warmer temperatures, Ventura County citrus and avocado farmers said they were preparing to protect their crops from the deadly winter frost that can destroy fruit and freeze stems, causing fruit to drop.

“This is the worst frost this year,” said Stan Roberts of Agricultural Land Services, which farms 2,000 acres of avocado trees in Camarillo. “But it is not as bad as last year.”

Roberts and other Ventura County farmers reported some damage to lemons and avocados Tuesday, but predicted that the losses would be minor compared to those caused by the December, 1987, freeze, which destroyed about $70 million in produce.

“Last year the whole area was freezing,” said Jack Dickenson, president of Limoneira Associates in Fillmore and Santa Paula, which farms 3,000 acres of citrus and avocados. “This year has not been as bad because we’ve had some wind, which has protected areas west of Santa Paula.”

Retail nursery owners in Thousand Oaks and Santa Clarita said they have received several phone calls from homeowners concerned about drooping plants.

John Mahler, nursery manager for Green Thumb Nursery in Newhall, said home gardeners were buying rolls of plastic to make tent-like coverings for sensitive plants such as bougainvillea and hibiscus. When making a protective tent, the covering should not touch the leaves because it can prevent air from circulating around the plant and lead to freeze burns, Mahler said.

Another way to protect plants is to water them because the moisture warms the roots, nursery managers said.

Mahler said his nursery thermometer plunged to 26 degrees Tuesday morning, forcing workers to push tropical plants beneath tarpaulins. Mahler warned homeowners not to prune damaged leaves until spring because it creates an open wound, making plants even more susceptible to frost.