Shannon, 29 is fine. There was a recent thread quoting an article giving stats on it - see below. The problem is if the forecast is off or you are in a pocket and it gets a bit below that. My apricots took 27F a few weeks ago at full bloom and I am seeing little fruitlets forming from most blossoms now.

For some reason its colder more south on this one, I am fine in Baltimore. Low 37 expected tonight. The only problem I am having is I need a stretch of warmer weather to graft the peaches.

Scott

Here is a link that might be useful: article

In our area (Atlanta), the danger is with the peaches and blueberries. Last year you couldn't find a blueberry anywhere north of Macon. It was very sad. And the GA peaches were hard and tart for most of the season. Add the late freeze to the awful drought.... I feel very bad for anyone who was earning their living from farming last year.

I'm afraid our peach trees will be feeling the effects again. Last year it was blooming during the April freeze, which I believe got down in the upper 20's here in GA. This year the trees have finished blooming, and there are little peaches growing.

Of course, last year we were new homeowners (the previous owners planted the peaches), and didn't know we could do anything about the weather. I hope we're much better prepared this year!

Remember also that last year was several nights of cold, and several hours each night. That results in a much worse situation. Also, wasn't it really windy? In windy situations, it's much harder to "hold" the heat in near the plant by covering and such.

I lost everything last Year. The temp dropped to 24-27F for 3 nights.

This year it seems a little better. We probably will see 30 for one night. All my fruit trees just finished blooming, but according to what I read somewhere, they should be fine for 30F for one night.

Spring is late here this year. Last year, everything was 3-4 weeks ahead of normal, and the Easter freeze was devastating. Only Legacy and Oneal blueberries are starting to bloom so far, and temps above 27F probably won't harm them significantly. They get hit worse than this just about every year, and still produce good crops. My kiwis will surely loose their shoots except for one, which is surprisingly tolerant. It is the only one blooming anyway, as they are still recovering from last year.

One word or warning. Don't cover your plants with plastic, unless you make sure the plastic does not touch anything tender and be sure it completely reaches the ground, without any openings that can allow airflow. I found out the hard way that covering with plastic can make things much worse if not done properly.

Kiwi,

You're so right about early last year. I just went back on Friday and looked for that April freeze. It was around the 8th here. My grape buds had already broken and I had leaves opening up when it hit last year. My raspberries already had new canes an inch or two high. This year, right now, on April 14th, my grape buds haven't even swollen and my raspberries are barely awake. I'm frankly amazed at how much later everything is this year, compared to last. I'm probably two weeks away from where I was last year at the start of April, so at least a month later. Fortunately, with nothing much more than budded, this weeks freeze didn't seem to do much damage. Not sure we even got to 30 here tho.

dave

Kiwinut,

Which variety are you referring to that is more tolerant to the frost??

We are supposed to see 30 for at least one night. I don't think it will be too bad though. It has to remain that way for a while to do significant damage. I did some research last week as well b/c I couldn't remember when last year's freeze was. It was April 6 - 10th for us and got down to 24 degrees and 28 the next night. I looked up some stuff on google and found this data. I'll attach.

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb255/jtleamer/2007freeze.jpg

Here is a link that might be useful: National Climatic Data Center April 2007 freeze

I guess you don't want to hear we hit 91 degrees yesterday??

Carla in Sac (ducking rotten tomatoes)

Carla, I am so glad its NOT 91 here! That is what did us in last year. I would prefer to have a real spring.

Tyler, I though someone might ask that. It is one of my Hort16a seedlings, a very vigorous and very precocious male. It has never failed to bloom, in spite of a very early bud break, although last year it got killed to the ground right as the first blooms opened. All of the Hort16a seedlings are more frost tolerant than any other kiwi I have grown, but this one is the best. Two years ago, the unopened blooms took 10 mornings straight with lows from 25-29F, with only 30% damage and it still produced hundreds of flowers. The others had 70-95% damage and the hardy kiwis lost all shoots the first night it dropped below 28F.

carla in sac,

91 is a bit warm for me but if u could see fit, please send me 10 degrees of it. that would still keep u at 81 and boost me into the 60s, just where i like it.

nothing bloomin here, except for the onions at The Outback down in spokane.

wildlifeman

I hit 31 last night (28 predicted), we're predicting 31 tonight (I'll probably be 4-5 degrees warmer again)...the next couple nights are all almost 40 or higher for the forseeable future (well until the 27th when its 36 degrees)

I have moved my figs in and out each morning, but after Wednesday morning they will stay out unless the temps go funny again.

My kiwis have not yet started swelling their buds (Magnolia vine has 1/2 inch growth).

Looks like two of my (6) pawpaws will flower this spring (Yeah!).

Currants all have leaves in some level of growth, with one gooseberry fully leafed out (strangely). No flowers on any of those yet, though.

I'm not worried about the freeze...If one is predicted for two weeks from now I would be concerned.

~Chills

Hey acer, check out this link form Michigan State Univ.. Hope it helps you rest easier.

Here is a link that might be useful: Critical temperatures

This is SO different from last year - I had oaks with 10 inches of tender new growth, American persimmons with 4-6 inches of tender new growth, all my fruit trees had all but finished blooming - many with small fruit already developing.
The 4-5 consecutive nights of temps into the low 20s/teens were devastating - I had young grafted pecans, persimmons, and mulberries in the 6-10 ft height range killed back to the ground. Pecans and hickories lost all their leaves. Only two of a dozen or so grafted heartnut varieties were not killed off completely - including a couple that were 10 ft tall - killed back to the black walnut rootstock.
Black walnuts and most Asian persimmons were still dormant, and escaped significant damage.
This year, pears, peaches, plums and a few early apples are just now in bloom, but pecans and oaks are just entering bud-swell, or early leaf extension. Persimmons and mulberries have not yet broken bud.
I'm not overly worried, and I'm not bothering to attempt to cover anything. Extension fruit specialists here are predicting at most a 10% reduction in total crop.

We had a very heavy frost this morning. My weather station out in the orchard died last week, so the only other thermometer near the house read 26F this morning. No way that is correct, as there was no damage to anything. The hardy kiwi have 6 inch shoots, and look fine. I did cover a couple of shoots with a towel just to see what would happen. Those shoots were black this morning! My pawpaws have some flowers out, so hopefully they will be ok. I have not seen a pawpaw fruit in the area in nearly 3 years due to late frosts.

Aser,
How is your Balaton doing?
Do you have any pollunator for it? I have four year tree that blooming great, but only small number of cherries.
What you are doing for your tree in spring, fall or now?