To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] pawpaw flowers & freeze temp
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:23:54 -0600
The black material is good for absorbing heat during the day, but at night
it radiates the heat out with the same efficiency. You would likely need a
lot of heat absorbing material underneath to make it work in your favor. I
learned the hard way not to use it.
For me, I normally don't have freeze issues when its windy during spring. It
is only on those really clear calm dry nights that the temperatures can
unexpectedly plummet to dangerous levels.
Hal
>
> Not sure why you say black plastic would be bad. Seems like it would
> warm up the space that the plant is in if left on during the day.
> However, I'm wondering if there was really any protective effect at all
> with the plastic I used. With the wind blowing like that, unless I had
> an airtight space, it may be that the temperature inside the plastic
> tent was not any different than that outside.
>
> I've sometimes thought of string little Xmas lights onto the branches to
> generate just a touch of warmth. But again with strong winds, it
> doesn't seem like it would help.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Regards,
>
> Jay
>