North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Mark Angermayer" <hangermayer@isp.com>]

We had a narrow miss here last weekend.  Days earlier, weathermen were
calling for a low of 18F.  With some peach trees in full bloom, it wasn't
looking good.  I contemplated some ways to try to minimize fruit loss.  But
I have the same problem as Bill.  When these cold fronts blow through, the
wind is pretty fierce, and really limits your options.  Covering any trees
is out of the question.  And I question whether sprinklers would work with
20-25 mph winds. I have sprayed potassium lactose before (can't say from my
own experience whether it's effective or not, but some people swear by it)
but it gets pretty hard to spray in strong winds.  It turns out we got a
good bit of freezing rain, which left about 1/4" of ice on the trees.  The
temps only got down to 24.6F.  Strangely, I can't tell that any of the
blooms died.  At that temp, there should have been 90% bloom kill, according
to the charts.  I've read before ice can protect buds, but I've forgotten
how it does it.  Anyone want to refresh my memory?

Mark
KS
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "William C. Garthright" <>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 8:43 PM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] heat tape


>
> > A while back I read a summary of some prof. at MU trying to delay
blossom by spraying the whole tree with a dilute latex paint/water mix.  The
idea was to keep the sun off the buds as well as the trunk.  Can't remember
how long it supposedly delayed bloom, but I'm thinking it was a weeks delay.
> >
>
>
> Interesting, Mark. I might try that next year. I did wonder when I
> painted the trunks how far up I was supposed to go.
>
> And my neighbors think I'm loony already, so I might as well go all the
way.
>
> :-)
>
> Bill
> Lincoln, NE (zone 5)
>
> -- 
> Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock.
> - Will Rogers
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