OT protecting from frost...

[MarkKlier]

I have planted about 900 birch and sugar maple saplings this year...had to "sweat" them (break their dormancy) prior to planting...now we are looking at frost Tuesday, wed...

So I have plastic and a plan for the saplings...but I also planted 5 large 2" diameter oaks...they broke dormancy in transit....does anyone have experience trying to protect trees this large???

 

[JBrown]

mark,
you might want to see if you can contact Charles Osterly. I remember a meet at his house and he has some incredible gardens

 

[dderue]

Try giving one of the larger garden centers a call. They usually will give out their advice even if you didn't get the trees from them. Bristol's, or the Garden Factory

 

[gary greguire]

allot of the trees around here are out of dormancy. I am not sure what you can do for them. Maybe contact a tree nursery they deal with that stuff all the time..

 

[DiViNeLeFT]

i would try to track down some burlap bags... maybe a feed store or farm... if the trees are to big for the bags maybe sew some bags together to make them bigger. otherwise maybe an extention cord and a long night with the hair drier.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Mark- I'd contact an expert nurseryman. I'm hesitant to say everything will be fine. Please keep us up to date on what's happening.

 

[moriartiholmes]

Might be too late now, but I would try micro waving a few towels until they are just a bit warm and then insulating them around the tree, using newspaper or whatever is available. I'm not sure if this would work but it might.
Another (possibly better) idea would be to through a tarp or drop cloth over them and place a light bulb inside with them, that should keep them from freezing.
Does the nursery give any guarantees? I know some do.

 

[MarkKlier]

Thanks for the input....I had talked to the garden centers before I posted. The risk of "frost" over the next few days turns out to be low because of the high "dew point"...however the risk of freeze is high tonight, moderate tomorrow and high on Thursday night. I will be using thin 1mm plastic supported with 12ft conduit piping around the plants to try and trap some of the heat from the ground via convection...will let you know how it works...thanks again for the input MK

 

[dderue]

Good luck, let us know how you made out!

 

[Guy]

Good luck Mark!

I've never worked with 900 trees but I have used lots of gallon jugs of water to create a mini-warm spot. I would think that as many containers of water as possible under the "air trap" would help as the water slowly releases it's heat overnight and gathers heat in the day.

 

[_ShotgunShrimp_]

anit frost for plants and flowers

anit frost for plants and flowers

just water them.. the water from your house will be warmer than the air.. use one of those rocking sprinklers (the one with like 15 streams shooting out an arch) thats what my grandfather did to keep away frost on his garden.. worked every year... although with the wetness of the ground already it could drown them.. i believe bristols also uses that tactic to beat frost sept they use big rainbirds...

 

[sailfinreef]

shorgun shrimp is right, but you should be able to just water them before bed and the process of water to ice creates heat and wont frost up. or atleast thats how it was explained to me.

 

[bosborn1]

Thats also what we did down in Central Florida when we had frost during the orange season. The farmers bring out MASSIVE sprinklers that shoot water 50 ft into the air. Because the ground water supply in Florida is usually pretty warm this always works. Hard freezes are a little differnet though. I dont think we are going to have a hard freeze this week. Don't for get that the geographical location plays a big part in temps. I know the temp is usually colder out in Fairport than it is out in the flater areas west of the city....I am sure that you already knew that though. As far as the temp thing I am probably stating the obvious.

Scott

 

[MarkKlier]

Thanks ...can't water..I live in Gates my land is in RIGA and there is no water supply close to where they are...we put up lots of plastic...we will see how it works. You can usually get a few degrees warmer that way. It's 39 degrees right now...will keep our fingers crossed..MK

 

[Guy]

Best of luck Mark!

 

[MarkKlier]

Looks like it got down to 26-28 degrees out in Riga..ouch Big oaks look good...others not so good MK