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! :=)

I don't do anything to protect trees from frost, with one exception, that being very small plants that have not yet had a good strong growing season to get established. I am protecting one tree at the moment, a friend's 18" tall Eucommia ulmoides that was just about to break bud when the last few cold blasts (one down to 14 F and the other to 17 F) came through. It was planted last spring and only put on about four inches of growth. The species is hardy here but its foliage has shown some sensitivity to late spring and early fall freezes. With this new little one, I didn't want to chance it not having the energy reserves to grow a replacement set of leaves. What I am using is two 3 gal. plastic containers, the bottom cut out of one, and both lined with bubble wrap. Nested upside-down, they form a sort of teepee over the plant. So far this arrangement seems to have worked pretty well. There is a slight blackening on the edges of the tree's bud scales, but the buds overall remain plump and green. BTW Toronado, how did the Gum Bumelia tree do for you last season--the one Missouri Wildflowers sent you by mistake in place of the Nyssa you wanted?

Hi Leon:I am not using the boat ,anymore because,I can't launch it,to water,after I had Back Surgery,in 2006. But I used it before and had good fun,going fishing on Delaware river tributaries. As for the pruning,I really used the tree to get some extra Money. I sold all those cuttings,on Ebay,and,I am sure whoever grows it will be very Happy with the results. I know I am. Best Regards

Hi, everyone. Thanks again for the help. Sorry for our late reply. We have been busy and still trying to set up something again with the plastic. :-) Hi, Harry. It must be very hard during hurricane season. I know I am emotionally attached to our plants already and they are all new and young still... Just hope Mother Nature doesn't get too brutal... Hi, Mango_nut! Thank you for the link. I have browsed it and will look at it in more detail. I would love to have a sapodilla to serve as a windbreak but as you have mentioned it would take too long for it to help us in the interim. :-( It would be nice indeed to have fruit trees serving as windbreaks too. :-) Hi, Mango_kush! Yes! Our neighbors have those cement blocks too for walls. For fencing otherwise, it is metal? With large gaps. But their trees are all mature... So I guess they don't have to worry much about the winds damaging young trees... Hi, Gomango! Wow, a lot of mango lovers here besides us! :-) That was what we were afraid of with planting windbreaks: 1) time it needs to be fully functional and 2) growth that will not be too vigorous so as to affect our fruit trees. I was thinking of bamboo but I read on the forum those are very vigorous growers and can grow very tall... If planting windbreaks, I will have to do so in containers. Unfortunately, the garden is too small for them to co-exist in the ground.