Leaving soil exposed to the elements during the winter causes quite a few problems in fact. First, erosion due to the melting snow and/or heavy fall and spring rains. The surface 2-4 inches of your soil contains the majority of the nutrients that a plant is able to access. Once that gets washed away, you are left with various degrees of subsoils. Secondly, the constant freezing and thawing experienced in the shoulders of winter (i.e. early winter, early spring) will cause a great deal of compaction. This will eliminate all of the work you did trying to get that soil nice and fluffy. Third, in the late fall a great deal of soil organisms and microbes (including most significantly worms) can get caught in an early, heavy freeze. Without some form of insulation on the surface, they will die quickly before being able to burrow further into the soil. Now you may say "so what, there's lots of them", but if the weather warms up after a freeze, the same thing is going to happen again, and again. The bottom line is that there are only so many worms in the soil. Plastic mulches may assist in the first point about erosion, but it provides very little insulation against harsh weather. During the dead of winter, with or without a snow cover, it doesn't really matter: things are going to be frozen solid. It is the ability of a thick covering mulch to moderate the freezing and thawing during the shoulder seasons that is important.

Softmentor - You are very right on the many number of factors that determine cold hardiness (others we did not mention: acclamation to cold and overall health of the tree)...there is certainly no "magic number." I have found that upper 20's for a few hours are fine for oranges, grapefruit, and meyer lemons. Other lemons, citrons, limes, etc. wouldn't like that I am sure. From my understanding, Trifoliate orange rootstalk actually does add some protection because it is the only citrus that goes completely dormant in the winter. According to John Panzarella (a local citrus guru for Southeast Texas), "PT goes dormant in the winter, so reduces the water flow to the scion and gives the scion a few degrees of cold protection. PT will not start growing and producing tender new growth with a few days of warm weather in the winter." The last sentence is especially important for Texas, as in the winter we have frequent gulf breezes battling arctic cold fronts. So far, here are my unprotected lows for my varieties: Rio Red Grapefruits (2 trees planted at the same time by previous owner)- 26 F (4 years old, south side of house, pine trees overhead) -- tree was covered in snow (maybe insulated it a bit??), I was very surprised that there was no damage. Okistu Satsuma - 29 F (planted fall 2008, north side in the yard, no overhead protection at all) Meyer Lemon - 28 F (planted spring 2007, north side of house, no overhead protection) Moro Blood Orange - 28 F (planted spring 2007, in yard with no protection) Lakeland Limequat - 29 F (planted fall 2008, north side of house, 2 feet from brick exterior of house) As you can see, this is a very small sample size and only a brief history of data. Last winter was pretty warm, as has this winter so far. I wish I had a better way of measuring the length of the freeze and other variables.

I know it's a little late to be commenting on this post that turned up in my search for info on Loquat, Eriobotrya japonica. Although this thread didn't have anything to do with my question about Loquats, I couldn't stop reading. Scott, you did a great job on this article. I enjoyed reading it and learned a lot. I'm particularly interested in the cold frames you made with the PVC. Last year I made some out of wood for my mom and stapled plastic to it. I will not do that again. I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind. (1) What width or diameter PVC did you use? I didn't realize PVC was that flexible. What makes it hold that shape? (2) Did you just sink the ends of the PVC directly into the ground? I couldn't tell because of the blankets. I'd like to be prepared long before winter sets in this winter. Your frames are great because they look easy to construct and easy to dismantle & store when not in use. Thank you.

I've had my haefele foot pedal on the trash drawer for 4 1/2+ years now. It took me a while to get used to using the pedal so I used the pull a bunch of times at the beginning. And yes, guests usually just use the pull too. I've not yet had a problem (knock on wood). I do think that using the pedal is preferrable. I've read that comment about it being bad to use the pull here several times, but I think that would only really hurt it if you did it habitually as opposed to occasionally when guests do it. Tam, I would try to get your family to use it. I'm not sure how tight you have the bungee cord attached, but my drawer doesn't come bounding out with any great force. It opens to about half way so that the trash can is fully exposed and the back recycle bin is only about an inch exposed. I often stand in front of it deliberatly as it is opening so that it hits my leg, so I can throw something away without looking, and it just gently taps my leg. If I want to get out of the way as it's opening, it's not like I have to quickly leap away to avoid getting hit. It seems like your daughter could learn to get out of the way, I think.