North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[<dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>]

Deb,

 

How many trees do you have?  If you do not have very many and you have a water source nearby, you could put sprinklers (mist type are better) on them.  If the temps do not get too low, you can just water them very good and the water soaking into the ground can warm the temp by a degree or 2 sometimes.  Another option is to cover them with visqueen (plastic).  Visqueen is clear and will let light through while protecting the blooms from frost.  However, by using Christmas lights and tons of burlap wrap, you can actually save most of the blossoms. It is, however, an incredible pain in the rear that way! 

 

If you visit http://www.fao.org/docrep/008/y7223e/y7223e0c.htm  you will find many different methods that have been used and tested over the years.  This is a more technical article, but we have used this article as a good resource.  We have always used our irrigation system and it has been very effective for us.  We have too many trees to cover in visqueen, but that is the more widely used and easiest method.  Good Luck!

 

Dennis Norton
Royal Oak Farm Orchard
http://www.royaloakfarmorchard.com
http://www.theorchardkeeper.blogspot.com
http://www.revivalhymn.com

----- Original Message -----

From: Deb Schneider

To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2007 11:55 AM

Subject: [NAFEX] Possible frost, what to do

We've had extraordinarily warm weather for March and my peach and pluot trees are blooming and the cherry and pears are budding.  This is the first year the peach and pluot have bloomed and we were really hoping for fruit.  BUT...it looks like next week there may be weather in the 30s...possible frost.  Any tips on how to protect these flowering and budding trees and get some fruit from them?  Thanks!

 

deb