Willy, I finally figured out how to post pics with photobucket's new way, so now I can share this info with you and the others.

Some plants like tomatoes are best left to die when we have a hard freeze, but when it comes to mango and young avocado trees, for example, winter protection is a must. (Please note that I live in zone 9.)

Covering some plants with sheets, blankets, or frost cloth sometimes is enough during a light frost of freeze, but a hard freeze calls for something more drastic. What I do is make a mini-greenhouse for my tender fruit trees.

These are 3 young trees that I protected last January.

Yesterday I staged what it looked like under one of the mini-greenhouses.

How to make a mini-greenhouse:

Surround the tree with stakes with at least 6 stakes so it will form a round shape. I usually use the green metal garden stakes for small trees.

Provide a heat source. The safest and best way is to use a string or two of large bulbed Christmas lights. Unfortunately, my young pictured fruit trees are 300+ feet from a plug, so I have to use hurricane lamps. Instead of using expensive lamp oil, I use kerosene instead. The reason why I use at least 2 lamps is because I set the flame to go as low as possible which sometimes causes one flame to go out. The purpose is to keep the temperature around the plant above freezing, not room temperature.

Wrap the tree in plastic. This must be done to hold in the heat from the heat source. I use string/twine and clothes pins to secure the large sheet of clear plastic. Make sure that the plastic is secured to the ground, especially during windy nights.

Something optional that I do for trees that will have to be protected every year is to put a 1" galvanized fence post or 1" pvc pipe near the tree trunk when I plant the tree. I use this pipe as an umbrella holder. I use an inexpensive beach umbrella. This really helps to keep the top covering of plastic from falling down. Again, this step is optional. In case you were wondering, it is ok for the plastic to touch the leaves.

So, during a very cold night I have the most unusual looking yard in the neighborhood.

Christine