to protect against frost / freeze - WATER

12 years ago

On another post, someone included this great link to Cornell on Understanding Frost:

http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/weather/frost.pdf

I'm copying this bit because I found it really helpful:

Irrigate before the frost Ã¯Â¿Â½ A moist soil can

hold four times more heat than a dry soil. It will

also conduct heat to the soil surface faster than

a dry soil, aiding in frost prevention. In a study

performed years ago, the air temperature

above a wet soil was 5 degrees F higher than

that above a dry soil and the difference was

maintained until 6 a.m. the next morning.

Thus, plants should be well watered the

evening before a frost.

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Comments (8)

Jon 6a SE MA
12 years ago
Great advice and explanation. Thanks GG.

Jon
Johnsp
12 years ago
Was just speaking with Viktoria Serafin in FB. She said she may lose her entire collection tonight as temperatures are forecast to go down to 25 degrees tonight. I shared with her the post above but she said it takes almost two days to water all the hostas and a generator is used to pump water for that purpose and isn't set up for the season yet. This weather is really putting a lot of us to the test.

Scott
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I've got a pear that has bloomed out beautifully for the first time in the ten years I've been growing it. Our freeze is coming tonite (28) and the next night (24!) and I'm getting a large tarp and covering the 12 foot tall pear. I've psent years doting over this tree and I'm about to spend $40 or so to protect my investment. But here's the trick: get a couple of 300 watt construction work lites and put them up under the tarp to provide heat. I also have a couple of stand-up quartz heaters that might be better. I did this for my Cox Oreange Pip one year and it worked great. It kept the temp at 30 inside while it was 25 outside. Not that it did any good in the long run - the Cox's still sucked due to this ain't England. But, it protected the blossoms nicely. The lengths we go to to get a piece of fruit! Herbert, off to the tarp store
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I've saved fruit many times from temps as low as 25/26/27 by going out in the very early morning hours between 4:00 AM and 6:00 AM and spraying them down with water. It does help. A couple of things -- 1) bring the hoses inside somewhere they can't freeze. Even a little water will leave an ice plug in the hose, which is frustrating and problematic at 4:00 in the morning. 2) Be sure to wear heavy, waterproof gloves with insulated gloves inside. Your hands will get cold fast, especially when wet. 3) Always get dressed. Don't go out in your pajamas and an overcoat like I did, then hide behind the compost pile for 20 minutes while the cops shine your yard looking for burglars because some neighbor called the police about the strange goings-on in your yard at 4:00 in the morning! :=)
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A Topical Spray to Enhance Plant Resistance to Cold Injury and Mortality David A. Francko1,4, Kenneth G. Wilson2, Qingshun Q. Li2 and Maria A. Equiza2,3 1 Graduate School and Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 2 Department of Botany, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056 Additional Index Words. ornamentals Ã¯Â¿Â½ fruit crops Ã¯Â¿Â½ azalea Ã¯Â¿Â½ Begonia Ã¯Â¿Â½ Chamaedorea cataractarum Ã¯Â¿Â½ Citrus limon Ã¯Â¿Â½ Citrus sinensis Ã¯Â¿Â½ Citrus xtangerina Ã¯Â¿Â½ Fragaria xananassa Ã¯Â¿Â½ Lycopersicon esculentum Ã¯Â¿Â½ Musa basjoo Ã¯Â¿Â½ Musa acuminata Ã¯Â¿Â½ Rhododendron indica Ã¯Â¿Â½ Rosa chinensis minima Ã¯Â¿Â½ Sabal palmetto Ã¯Â¿Â½ Spathiphyllum Ã¯Â¿Â½ Trachycarpus fortunei A novel topical spray was developed to increase resistance to both cold damage and cold mortality in plant foliage, flowers, and fruits. In environmental chamber experiments, application of the spray to monocot and dicot foliage lowered the environmental temperatures associated with the first onset of cold injury and with cold mortality from 2.2 to 9.4 Ã¯Â¿Â½F, compared with controls sprayed with tap water, over an effective temperature range (depending on species) of 0 to 32 Ã¯Â¿Â½F. The threshold temperature for flower mortality was lowered from 2.2 to 3.2 Ã¯Â¿Â½F depending on species. Mature fruit suffered significantly less freeze damage when pretreated with the spray formulation. The spray is composed of ingredients that are non-toxic to plants, humans, and other animals. The patent-pending formulation has been commercialized under the trade name FreezePruf.
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In my new 8 by 14 lean-to GH, I have two open windows into the house with a small window fan circulating air continually. This allows me to not have to vent and waste hot air to the outside as well as help moderate temps. I added one of the small oil filled electric radiators listed above, trying to keep the temps above 55 at night. With the radiator, continual fan and 15 hour a day lights, I was worried how crazy the electric bills would be - could end up with some expensive tomatos. But after the the expense of building the GH and loving growing the plants, I would not have changed a thing. I did turn the thermastat down in my home to help compensate for the added GH. I just got the first electic bill since adding the heater. I used 3KWhours per day less this month than the same month last year. Maybe I should add more lights. :) Carol Here is a link that might be useful: pictures of lean-to greenhouse
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Johnsp
12 years ago
Well just got the beds watered down and and a few of the more rare hostas covered. I also covered Empress Wu as she is about 2.5 feet tall. The temperature right now is 47 degrees and forecast is for 28, 30 and 27 for the next three nights. I think it was Monday night this week the temperature went down to 31 degrees and all the hostas had frost on the foliage. Not a single plant was damaged. We had just gone through the big rain storm so the ground was quite wet so I'm thinking wet soil holds more heat than dry. The next three nights will be a true test of the Cornell study.

Scott
bkay2000
12 years ago
I know you don't think we know about freezes in Texas, but we really get extreme temps, both high and low. Watering is what all the gardening experts tell us to do before a bad cold front. Also, floating row cover will give you a few degrees. It's lightweight, easy to put out and take up, reusable and gives you about 4 degrees protection. It's not expensive, either. The exact name of the roll I have is Fast Start seed and plant blanket.

bkay
Johnsp
12 years ago
Oh no I'm aware that you get frost and freezes in parts of Texas. If it wasn't for the super warmth we had in March most of us wouldn't be having these problems. I'm just going to take my chances with what I've done and a bunch of prayers. I had temps Monday night go down to 31 degrees and there was frost on all the hostas and not one was damaged so either they have hardened off a bit and/or the wet soil did help. I do appreciate the help but think they'll be ok.

Scott
pagrdnr
12 years ago
With this roller coaster weather we've been having, some of my hostas look like crap already. On week its in the 80s with nights in the 40s, next week frost, next week nice, 2 days it snows a foot, next day it all melts and is chilly. Now freeze warnings. So what happens now? I don't have time to cover them all or anything to do it with. Will they look like crap all season now? Some of the ones that were coming up early and got hit by frost seem stuck from unraveling? Grrr.....

I might cover a few prized ones with buckets but the rest will have to fend for themselves.
User
12 years ago
BKay, winter 2010 I lost many of my nice tropicals because we had below freezing temps for 14 days in a row. Not nice. Then this 2011 winter, we barely had any days below freezing. It is very hard to know what will happen next.

However, I think I'll prepare for it by getting the Fast Start seed and plant blankets to have on hand next winter.
Knowing what they are shaped like, measurements etc, I can sort of arrange the hosta to fit beneath them.

Have you ever had a hosta NOT go dormant?
in ny zone5
12 years ago
I do not have enough pots, not like Frank. Smaller pots do not cover large hostas, so I used black plastic bags around large hostas. But lightweight blankets is the answer. So since we have those roller coaster springs, I better buy several spun blankets for next year. I should have learned from 2 years ago when we had several freezes in a row starting May 10, but did not.
Bernd

to protect against frost / freeze - WATER

Comments (8)

Jon 6a SE MA

Johnsp

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bkay2000

Johnsp

pagrdnr

User

in ny zone5

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