To: nafex mailing list at ibiblio <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [nafex] Row cover for frost protection on grapes
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:38:00 -0400
Dan,
I just gained some experience Friday night. Our 40 warm (and hot - 87
degrees!) frost-free days have produced much new, tender growth on
multiple plants. The grape leaves have emerged the least of all my
fruit. We had a frost Friday night, the temp dropped to 33.6 F.
At sunset, I covered the kiwis with agribon, some with a canvas tarp,
some with cotton bedsheets. I coupled the 'tents' I made to the ground
and placed buckets of water inside the tents. I left the laterals of one
plant uncovered as a control as I had observed damage on covered plants
previous years.
Today I noticed that all the plants looked good with minor differences.
The uncovered kiwi had zero damage. The covered plants (with all kinds
of covers) froze where plant material touched the cover. The foliage was
protected under covers where there was no contact.
I believe that you are right: moisture condensed on the agribon and
fabric and created local freeze spots due to evaporative cooling.
Betsy Hilborn
7a NC
Anyone have much success with using agribon row cover to protect new
grape shoots from a late frost? The book Northern Winework suggests it
as an option. We had a "late" frost last night and the shoots that
weren't protected with row cover seemed to have less damage than the
ones with the row cover. Could this be the result of evaporative cooling
from dew condensing on the fabric? Dan __________________