I am freezing, but even worse my plants are. Anybody else have to race aroudn like a fool trying to cover up plants last night. Got frost here this morning and two more nights of it just when things was starting to come up nice and green.
I got berry prickers in my legs and tripped over pallets and pots trying to race like a fool to throw covers all on stuff and try and bring in what I could when they posted the freeze warnings all over the tv's.
yesterday I was out admiring all the new shoots and gren growing and today all the green covered in black plastic and every sheet I could find.
who took the sun away
I am old enough to remember not to rush the seasons.
I was in wal-mart the other day and a lady was walking around with these pretty little pots of petunias.... I knew better then to even head outside to the garden center for any.. Mothers Day is when I know I wont be a slave to covering up the annual plants that I've planted.. I think the worst job is covering and bringing in on the eve of a frosty night...the cold is unbearable..ughhh... I don't mind shoveling all kinds of stuff..but working in the cold at night.. very bad.. Though last year we had a freeze just before mothers day and all the folks with inventory had to scramble not to lose their stuff. But mothers day on is generally very safe.
I let my perennials take it like the tough plants they are or I think they are. last year lots of my hydrangeas had nipped buds.. Just the way it goes.
Here is an article about watering before and after a frost.. i don't mind turning on the sprinkler to save them :)
Susan
Understanding Frost
In spring and fall, the word frost sends gardeners scurrying for sheets, boxes, jars, floating row covers, the sprinkler system, or whatever they can scrounge to keep their plants safe from a possible cold snap. Just what is frost, and what does it do? How do your protective measures work?
There are two types of frost, advective and radiation. Advective frosts occur when a cold front sweeps into an area. Winds are typically gusty, clouds may occur and the thickness of the cold air layer may reach more than a mile high. One seldom sees the first frost of the season under these conditions. The first frost is typically a radiation frost. These occur under a clear sky and calm winds.
On overcast nights, cloud cover acts like a blanket on the Earth, trapping radiant heat from the ground. Any wind mixes the air thus trapped, creating a uniform temperature. However, clear skies and calm winds allow radiant heat from the Earth to rise to the upper layers of the atmosphere. Lack of wind prevents mixing of the air and an inversion layer develops. An inversion means that atmospheric conditions are inverse or opposite of normal daytime conditions when air temperature decreases with height. In an inversion, cold air collects near the ground while warmer air lies above this trapped cold layer.
The topography of the land also affects frost prevalence. Cool air settles at the bottom of slopes because it is heavier than warm air. Frost pockets will then form in valleys where cool air is trapped. Higher altitudes also have colder temperatures. Therefore you are apt to see frost damage at the bottom of sloped and on the hilltops, while the hillsides are frost-free. On any given property, there may be temperatures on different sides of the house, under protective trees, on south or north facing slopes, or in low-lying spots.
Frost warnings signal us that our plants may be in trouble. However, the essential criterion in damaging plants is not the appearance of frost, but the internal temperature in various tissues of the plant. If this is cold enough to break cell walls or disrupt cell constituents beyond repair, damage, wilting, and death will occur in affected tissues. Frost will not always cause this degree of chilling within plant tissue, nor is it the only cause.
Typically, we may have 3 – 5 weeks of good weather following a frost but the crops have already been damaged or killed. Rather than just talking about the weather, there are several things that gardeners can do to minimize the effects of the first radiation frost. These include.
Watch the calendar and the forecast. Know when the average first frost will be in your area. This is the date by which a frost will occur 50% of the time. In looking over weather records in upstate New York over the past 50 years, it seems that this date is coming later each decade (although the date of the last spring frost has not changed much). Keep a careful eye on the weather forecast, too. Cool, clear nights with low humidity, often following a cold front, are signs of an impending frost.
Beware the full moon? People have always associated the full moon with an increased chance of frost. However, in reviewing weather records of four locations in the Northeast for the last 100 years, a full moon did not increase the chance of a frost. It was just as likely to occur when no moon was present as when the moon was full!
Harvest early. A crop like tomatoes is very sensitive to frost. If you have no way to protect plants, you may want to harvest all fruit that are in the mature green stage of ripening. Fruit harvested at this stage will still ripen, albeit not with the same flavor as fruit harvested with some color. Place fruit in a single layer in a warm, dark location with some air movement. Tomatoes and other fruit do not need light to ripen. In fact, light will slow ripening. Store where the temperature does not go below 55F. Lower temperatures will cause the fruit to be poorly flavored.
Irrigate, before the frost. A moist soil can hold 4 times more heat than a dry soil. It will also conduct heat to the soil surface faster than a dry soil, aiding in frost prevention. In a study performed years ago, the air temperature above a wet soil was 5oF higher than that above a dry soil and the difference was maintained until 6 am the next morning. Thus, plants should be well watered the evening before a frost.
Cover your plants. Covering plants can give you 2oF to 5oF protection. The covers can be laid right over the crop, or can be supported on stakes. The difference being that protection is less wherever the cover touches the plant. Any material can be used to cover the plants, however woven fabrics are better insulators then plastics or paper. The best time to apply covers is in the late afternoon after the wind has died down. Remove covers the next morning before the sun hits them.
Irrigate during the potential frost. Many people claim that watering the frost off plants prevents frost damage. This is partially true. As mentioned above, watering plants helps raise their temperature and the air around them to that of the water. In addition, as water freezes, heat is released; 80 calories for each gram of water that freezes. Therefore, watering plants before they are injured from frost can help keep their internal temperature above freezing. A single application at the coldest part of the night (generally just before sunrise) may be enough on 30-32 degree nights. On colder nights it may be necessary to apply overhead irrigation for an extended period of time, allowing actual ice formation on the plants. In this case, irrigation must continue until morning temperatures rise above 32 degrees and the ice melts. It is important to note that once frost damage occurs, watering does not help.
Chemical sprays. Buyer beware! Many materials will claim to provide frost protection using a variety of techniques. However, no commercially available product seems to be able to stand up to a replicated, scientific test.
Heaters and wind machines. These measures are generally restricted to commercial growers and work best in orchards. Both are used to break down an inversion layer. Heaters warm the cold ground air, causing it to rise. This updraft causes a corresponding downdraft, thus mixing the air. Wind machines are huge fans mounted on 30-foot towers. The wind currents they create physically mix the warm and cold air layers.
Whatever frost protection measures we use, winter will eventually end our growing season. The time will come to say goodbye to our garden and begin chores left undone for so long under the pretext that “there will be more time in winter!”
9/2001 Compiled by Eric de Long, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Chemung County
Good info. I usally go aroudn and water everything when I know a frost is coming and I have the time. I wil go out and water all around the base of my plants and am able to keep them going with out too much trouble.
Famerdill how right you are. I have so much seed that needs planted and normally I would have loads of it done by now, but after losing plants and crops and home and vechiles from last years freak ice storm I have been a big scarried cat. I barley have 1/10th started of what I normally do.
I been tryign to remember when we got hit with the golf ball ice last year. I know my average last day of frost is supposed to be april 15th. Wondering if it gonna be ok or not.
I got a bunch of sweet potaoes I want to start get slips goign from but got busy and didn't get them planted and am glad now. it getting so close to last frost date now, that I thinking about just waiting til i know spring really here before starting anything else. Just that it makes it so hard to try and have anythign to take to market if ya do cuz everybody else has there stuff ready too.
gpot one bathc of pepers and tomatoes outside in my makeshift gh and think I gonan start sowing seed indoors and hopefully by the time they get up it wil be ok to transplant them. I want a real fresh off the vine tomato so bad. Just even thinking about em got me drooling.
:))
Brrr! I have to pull my Plumerias in tonight. It's was snowing this morning when I was coming home from the orthopedic office.
Some of my little zinnia seedlings turned to mush last night. I didn't expect it quite so cool last night or I would have covered them! They are well covered up now for tonight. Covering them during the day before the freeze helps little tents and cold frames warm them up to hold in some heat.
Did you see the weather next week? Really nice and mild nights too!
GGG
Some of my zinnias were just coming up an they looked fine today.. Looking forward to some better weather.
:)
Susan
I'm babying some baby fig trees that are leafing their little heads off - they are in the ground so that's all I can do. Trying to determine if the raspberries and blackberries that are leafing out need to be brought up close to the house from their yard positions.
Everything else that isn't hardy is on my rolling rack that goes in and out of the garage as needed, or in the tiny greenhouse which will just get a towel thrown over it.
I don't like the seesaw weeks between gorgeous and cold :/ My dogwoods are leafing along with some azaleas that have already started blooming, I guess we'll lose those this year....sigh.
But the good part is that my onion sets should be fine down to 20, so I don't have to rush to get stuff over them, and the lettuce and broccoli and cabbage should be okay too. And the end is just a few weeks away!! yay!
I learned my lesson last year.
My greenhouse isn't heated so I had to cover my seedlings with frost cover but they did fine.
I'm hoping these cold snaps cause my artichokes to bloom this year.
BB
It was 17 degrees here this morning when I went out to check on everyone - but everyone made it through apparently alright, except for some of the azalea buds. Makes me feel a little better for running around like an idiot with sheets and towels and clothespins everywhere yesterday evening...LOL! Not sure how the weather sites thought it was only going to be 29 degrees...?
I hope everyone else's things did okay!
Boy, you were colder than me. I got down to 22F and it only gonna be a few more degrees warmer tonight. Hopefully this the last night. Said my yard went from nice green to gothic with all the black tarps sread every where over it and my gh not heated so I went and put plastic over the plants inside and those ones made it fine.
At some point the wind blew one corner off some plants and had a few black and blue salvias that had just popped their heads get a bit burned.
I hope tonight is the last bad night for awhile and thinsg start staying on a steady course of warmth now.
Low 30's tonight, but I think we'll be OK for the rest of the week.
Hey Susan!!
Yeah. I got you covered! Tons of maters. Almost fried some the other day. Wasn't paying attention and made my fish solution a little too strong. But they are fine and of course, I still have tons to put out.
peppers are giving me a hard time though.
BB
We were at 25 this morning, but it looks like that is the last of it for a few days. I know our last average frost date here is 4/15, so I suspect we'll see more low temps before we're out in the clear for real spring weather.
I got a new variety of tomato at HD the other day, a Mr. Stripey. I'm hoping I can keep it alive until I can get it into the ground...lol!
Hi Hineni and IO1
Hineni:
Let me know how you like the Mr Stripey. I tried to grow it in the past and it did not do well for me
IO1:
My garlic is going great! My elephants are HUGE. Don't know if they will get sold.
BB
mr. Stripey didn't do so well here either and didn't paticulary care for the taste of it. Hope you have better luck with it.
A lot of compost. They are in a no-till bed with a lot of mulch and I just keep throwing organic matter in
BB
Here's a little bud on the azaleas. They aren't as pink as they have been in the past. I don't do anything to them, threaten to rip them out though!!! ;)
Susan
