Tender veggies & floating row covers

We have lettuce (4-5" tall) 3 kinds of peppers, squash 4" and carrots (1/2"). Our forecast is a low of 29º tomorrow night and we are usually 4-5º lower than the forecast.

Do you thonk a floating row cover will be enough? Any other suggestions? Tomorrow is the only frost/freeze for the next 15 days.

Lettuce and carrots make for me to a low of 28 with no help. The peppers and squash will definitely need help. I use row cover (that is when we have a winter--none here this year to speak of). I haven't even got peppers hardening off yet so you are several steps ahead of me. And I don't plant squash prior to March 1 either--but that applies to me.

will the peppers cover with a stryo cup if so cover them with one or plastic bowls then newspaper then the row cover remove all prior to getting to warm. neither appreciate cold feet water jugs filled with hot water just before bed time will help to.

dmj and ernie... Thanks for the tips. I've decided it MUST NOT FREEZE tonight, LOL. So, the $100 roll of row cover will go back to Home Depot tomorrow. Most we will lose is several dollars' worth of 6 packs.

Man, that's expensive row cover.

Good luck to them plants, darius.

darius, if you don't have a huge area to cover, I'd just use blankets. I have a whole trunk full of old blankets that I use for that every spring and fall. Works great!

Zeppy, it's the heavier kind (8º of frost protection) and 300 feet long.

Thanks, Joan. We just might use old blankets, or in Molly's case, paint drop cloths.

Well, then I'm grateful for that information, though that wasn't the intent of your post: I didn't know Home Depot had frost blankets, and that's not a bad price. Good luck again.

Zeppy, they also had the thinner (4º protection) 6' x 50' for $15.95. I decided if we needed frost protection, more was better. Plus the heavier stuff is not supposed to abrade the plants if we leave it on for insect control. Frankly, I'm tired of losing squash to borers!

So will you hand-pollinate, and keep the covers on? I'm eager to know, b/c I had terrible borer trouble last year as well, and I noticed the borer visited during bloom. That's why I never understood the advice to cover the plants young, and then remove the covers when blossoming occurs.

Honestly, I have NO idea! First experience with row covers, and haven't read all the varying opinions on how to use it.

ps... I think the borers live in the soil.

Heh heh, not anymore they don't. I put the chickens in the fenced garden for the fall and winter and I'm pretty sure they got every grub/larvae/overwintering pest unless it went 10 inches down.

What gets me is that this was a brand new garden, on what used to be just grass, and one day I'm out there and see a borer fly up where surely no squash vine borer had any reason to be before. It's them flowers!

Okay, sorry to take you off subject. I've found no good solution for the borers and am thinking about hand pollination, though I'll certainly feel stupid doing it.

Zep, almost everyone but me manages to grow more zucchini that they can give away. (Don't leave car windows open in August, it will get filled overnight with zukes.)

Maybe your chickens will have helped, surely cannot hurt!

darius...about them dang borers...

They don't live in the soil but their eggs are laid by the adults in the soil, usually at the base of their favored plants (squash!). In our area I tend to watch for the wild chicory to flower as a sign; once you see it flowering is when the adults are out and about,looking for places to lay eggs, so that is when you should keep your crops covered w/the row cover. I'm really not sure what a good plant sign would be in N. Florida though.

However,...a good couple doses of Bt with a sticker sprayed around the bases of of your zuke plants should be a good help. (It's either that or wrap the stems in foil, very tedious if you have a gazillion plants.)

I don't have so much trouble w/borers as I have with the common squash bug. So..over the years, I've gotten to where I grow an early crop of squashes and when the bugs take over I yank the plants out, feeling happy that at least I was able to get an early picking. (A later planting of squash plants might be of benefit to ya also...guess you'll just have to experiment in your new area.)

Ah yesss...zukes! Stuffed (zuccanoes!), zuke pancakes, fried zukes, grilled zukes on a shish-kabob, etc. Ain't nuttin' like it! :>)

Oh yeh...as for your original question, I agree, the lettuce and carrots will be fine. For the peppers and squash, I'd be tempted to throw a heavy mulch of straw over them; much more protection than a blanket, less weight, and when you pull it off the plants it becomes a nice mulch to slow down weed growth.
Shoe.

darius - how did those row covers work out or did you return them to home depot and opt for plain blankets.?

Frank, we didn't do anything... blankets nor row covers. My hi-lo thermometer says it got down to 31º next to the house. A quick glance at the veggie garden this AM doesn't show any apparent damage. I haven't made up my mind about returning the row cover yet.

darius, interesting essay on the squash vine borer by Tom Clothier: http://tomclothier.hort.net/page30.html

Thanks, Zep.

darius, hello down there, didn't realize you'd moved. Anyway, I've been using row covers for decades, and they do work. I have both the lightweight insect barrier type and the heavy duty frost protection type. The last two years I have overwintered cabbage and broccoli in the ground and this year, in an EB, and they have not only survived but stayed edible. In fact, I still have a crisp cabbage out there ready to be harvested that was planted last September and overwintered in the direct path of cold north winds. So you might want to hold on to it. I ordered mine from Gardener's Supply and have no idea of prices anymore, but you would have postage so it might be cheaper to keep what you already have, but it does seem quite expensive. I usually plant lettuce really early and also late in fall and it grows just fine under the heavy stuff until we get really cold temps well below freezing. Good luck.

Thanks Rosemary. I decided to return the row cover rather than store it and move it later when I find a "real" home again. I have enough to move as it is although I will definitely want some when I have my own garden again. I miss the mountains so that's where I will start looking in May.

Daiurs:

I didn't know that Home Depot sold row covers. I covered a couple of my beds with some covers I brought from Gardens Alive. I am so pleased with the progress of my crops grown under the covers versus the ones that I was going to cover everything else with the covers as well.

Do you know what the brand name was?

Thanks
BB

BB, sorry I don't know the brand name. I think only Reemay and Agribon make row covers in the US.

Thanks:

I have Agribon. I'll check out my local HDs

I do like Horshoe does and succesive sow squash to baffle the borers. They only take over on the old, stressed plants for me.