North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Jay Cutts <orders@cuttsreviews.com>]

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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