----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 4:29
PM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Freeze-Frost
Protection
Bill asks:
"Well, they're still forecasting mid-20's here for the next five
nights,
so I bought some visqueen-type plastic and also some clear 55
gal.
plastic bags (commercial bags for 55-gal drums). 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. I hoped that would insulate them
well enough, and I
figured that, since the clear plastic would let light
through, I could
put them on today and take them off next
Sunday."
"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. Is that true?"
"I really can't
remove all this every morning and install it again every
night. Maybe I
could take them off for a breather after a few days? Or I
could loosen the
plastic at the bottom every morning, to let some air in
during the day.
What do you think? I really need some advice here,
because I'm all set to
start working on this stuff. Do I need to worry
about my fruit trees and
bushes not getting enough air for 5-6 days?"
Bill,
In my experience with spring freezes, breathable fabric works much better
than plastic in protecting plants from frosts and freezes. We use old
sheets, sheer curtain fabric, polypropylene row cover, etc. The
first two can be found at second hand stores. Layers of light
fabric create dead air space more reliably than sheets of plastic, when
draping over bushes. A single layer of fabric protects strawberry blooms
from frost and light freezes, under our conditions.
Many fruiting plants (not all) have the ability to rebloom if blooms or
bloom buds are frozen. Remember that these plants are genetically
programmed to reproduce. If I lose 70-90% of my pear, peach and
nectarine blooms and recently set fruit, that would be a blessing in
terms of later thinning.
We, too are predicted to have 5 nights at or below freezing, with mid 20s
included. I look forward to this as test conditions to ID which fruiting
plants handle such conditions and still deliver a crop. Those are the
ones I want to plant more of and recommend to others. The ones that need
to be covered and coddled, I'd rather know it sooner than later and phase them
out.
Richard Moyer
East TN
Where the gooseberries, currants and juneberries laugh at spring
freezes.
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