North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[oowonbs@netscape.net]

No 1 of 2...


>I was wondering more about timing vs roots' tolerance to cold: is it 
worth
>hurrying to do the planting during the week, or OK to stash them back into the 
>shed til the weekend?



You might put half your eggs into each basket. That also lessens 

the hurry of planting as you'd have twice the time to dedicate to

those you do plant.


 No 2 of 2...



 > Listers, I have young apple & pear trees out of the ground.  Some
> potted, some bare-root in bags.  I could use ideas on whether I should
> plant them into the ground ASAP, or keep them stashed in an unheated
> shed until this cold snap is past.  Apples look full dormant yet (but I
> bet they are awake); pear buds are swollen.



The buds can wait a week in the shed.



>I thought I'd put TWO 
>plastic bags (for the insulating layer of air) over the bushes and very 
>small trees, and TWO sheets of clear plastic over the larger fruit 
>trees, grapes, etc.  



Leave the bags open at the bottom. 

Remove if any sunny day that is not realy cold.

>However, I just talked to the master gardeners at my county extension 
>service, and they tell me that plastic is the last thing I should use, 
>because plants need to breathe. They said that this would do more damage 
>to my plants than the freeze.



You don't really want plastic touching the plant. There will likely be

damage where it does.  An hour of sun in a bag, is darned hot. Just try

it yourself! A bedsheet is sometimes used, or a materail called remay.

White, crudely woven, breathes, let's some light through. Reuseable.

Some hoop-row gardeners use it for an early start or bug reduction.

Nothing is very practical for large trees.



Cordially,

BillSF9c

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