Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - [NAFEX] Winter Protection of Plants

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>
  • To: NAFEX <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Winter Protection of Plants
  • Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2008 09:25:42 -0700

This is a snippet from a letter on another list. It was unusual enough to be worth re-posting here.
-Lon Rombough
Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003.
For even more grape lessons, go to http://www.grapeschool.com
For all other things grape, http://www.vitisearch.com
A video about The Grape Grower : http://cookingupastory.com/index.php/2008/04/18/the-grape-grower/


<x-tad-bigger>Here is something that might be interesting in terms of potential winter ground cover of vines.  A number of years ago, over a few winters I had to run a water line over the ground, I would cover up the water line with dry Bracken ferns that I collected in the fall.  The water lines never froze even during the few days of -40 ish during the winter.  One of the neat things about the Bracken fern is that they are easy to stack as they various lengths become interlocked quite easily.  In my area of north central Ontario these ferns grow by the zillions, and it is easy enough to collect a large amount.  Pull out / break off with leather gloves on, as the dry fern stocks tend to be fairly brittle and will sometimes cut into your hands.  As such I would contend that a blanket of Bracken ferns could be a good alternative to straw.  I have filled burlap enclosures with the ferns to protect a couple of small apple trees I had.  The ferns stay bone dry and I believe that they offer good insulation value.</x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger>
</x-tad-bigger><x-tad-bigger> </x-tad-bigger>


  • [NAFEX] Winter Protection of Plants, Lon J. Rombough, 06/19/2008

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page