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  • From: Jay Cutts <orders@cuttsreviews.com>
  • To: mailing list at ibiblio - Northamerican Allied Fruit Experimenters <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [nafex] Protecting plants in winter/spring
  • Date: Sat, 7 Jan 2017 16:36:34 -0700

Recent conversations have looked at protecting figs and persimmons. I wanted to share a system I'm working on for protecting fruit trees from late spring frost.

Here in NM at 7000 feet we have days in the 50s or 60s even in February but can have a killing frost as late as end of May. As a result, most standard fruit trees rarely bear.

I have a handful of peaches, pears, wild plums and cherries in the ground that I wanted to protect. Most of them are not very tall (under 6 feet) because our conditions are so harsh. But I have also started only buying dwarf trees so that they can be kept small enough to protect.

My system is to build a frame around each tree using PVC 1/2" pipe and fittings. Easy to use and feels like tinker toys! I found that I do have to glue them or else the strong winds will rock them until the joints separate.

I'm covering the frames with 6 mil plastic and had to invent a system for attaching the plastic to the frames, using bolts inserted through the frames and washers glued to the plastic.

My plan is to only set up the plastics sides and roofs on nights when a frost is likely. If I had the structures up all the time, the wind would quickly rip them to shreds. There may only be a few such nights in a season. I have small flood lights that would be turned on inside the structure on those nights.

This will be the first season that I've done this so can't report on the effectiveness but I have high hopes. I've tested the structures out in high winds and have them fortified enough that they should be able to last a night. I can then do any repairs in the morning.

I do have on area of wild plums over which I have one large structure. That was challenging but seemed more efficient than separate structures over each plant, as they are quite close together.

I wish I could use structures like this to protect plants that need protection all winter but with our winds they simply wouldn't last. In addition I'm pretty sure that the structures - which are on the average about 4' x 4' by 3 to 6' tall - are not large enough to keep the temperature up without a heat source, though they would reduce wind damage.

Anybody have experience with using a one-plant sized structure to protect plants like fig that might need some shelter from extreme temperatures and winds?

Regards,

Jay

Jay Cutts
Director, Cutts Graduate Reviews
Lead Author, Barron's MCAT Prep Book
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