Light freeze last night!

stella1751 · Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:00 pm

It got so cold last night, I couldn't sleep. I had to get up to turn the heat on. When I went out this morning, it looked like my squash leaves had a light coating of frost. Nah. It looked like frost and felt like frost, but this soon?

The peppers say it was a light frost. Once the sun hit 'em, their leaves drooped to near vertical levels. Peppers are the ninety-pound weaklings of the vegetable garden in this country, the first to suffer from cold temperatures.

They're struggling now, six hours later, and appear to be winning the battle. If it was a freeze, it was very brief in duration.

Tonight, the temperature is forecast to drop to 37 degrees. That's at the airport, though. I'm at a lower elevation, in a drainage area. Cover? Don't cover? I'm gonna be monitoring the forecast up until 7 PM, hoping it changes

applestar · Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:03 pm

Good Luck! Hope everybody pulls through!
I would cover if in the low 40 or below....

gixxerific · Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:34 pm

applestar wrote: Good Luck! Hope everybody pulls through!
I would cover if in the low 40 or below....

I second that, put grandma's quilt on them, well maybe not grandma's quilt but........

cynthia_h · Sun Aug 16, 2009 9:52 pm

Isn't that kind of EARLY? When we lived in Cheyenne, I remember neighbors saying that the "growing season" was from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Sort of. So I thought it was basically June 1 to September 1, 90 days ...±.

But wow. August 15 you get a frost?! Those poor veggies...and you, after so much diligent work.

Hope you still get to harvest tomatoes, peppers, and the rest.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

Diane · Sun Aug 16, 2009 10:10 pm

It is so early.

With two nights of almost frost weather why not cover to be safe?

stella1751 · Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:11 am

We set a record low yesterday with 38 degrees. I didn't know that.

It's 40 degrees at the airport as I write this, with the beginnings of frost on my windshield. I did not cover. Most beds are so big that covering at this stage will cause damage. I hated the thought of unnecessarily breaking leaves and limbs, not when I can reasonably expect another four to six weeks before the real frost hits.

It's been a cool summer up here in Wyoming. I did cover on June 8, and here it is, mid-August with another light frost. We never went over 95 this summer. In July, we generally get two or three days in the upper 90's and even low 100's.

I just checked the plants, and I think I made it. I don't think it's as cold this morning as it was yesterday. The forecast high today is 71; the 10-day forecast is for upper 70's and low 80's. That's good growing weather!

gixxerific · Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:49 am

Good to hear they made it Stella. It's hard to believe you have a frost, it's HOT and HUMID in 'ol St Louis. (not that I don't believe you

) The poor Texans down south are super hot at least they were, not sure about this week.

This may sound crazy but would it be feasible to put a small heater out in the garden. I have an oil based heater though it is heated by electric that I though might work for me. It never gets hot to the touch but does somewhat heat up an area. I know it would work just will it short out and burn down my house is the question.

Well anyways good luck, Summer is not over yet.

jmoore · Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:55 am

It was kind of chilly here too. The temps dropped into the mid-80's by about 930pm.

Glad your plants made it through.

stella1751 · Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:08 am

Jmoore, I'm glad YOUR plants made it. My gosh, that's higher than many of our daytime highs! I'm not jealous. I won't be jealous. I refuse to be jealous

Okay. I'm jealous.

Hey, we don't have very many bugs

gixxerific · Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:26 am

stella1751 wrote:
Hey, we don't have very many bugs

You want some?

jmoore · Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:51 am

stella1751 wrote:Jmoore, I'm glad YOUR plants made it. My gosh, that's higher than many of our daytime highs! I'm not jealous. I won't be jealous. I refuse to be jealous Okay. I'm jealous.

Hey, we don't have very many bugs

Don't be jealous. You probably don't have to deal with massive heat stress on your plants.

And if you want bugs, we've got 'em, in spades. This year in particular is very buggy. Last winter wasn't cold enough to kill them off.

locteach · Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:43 pm

I am across the 75 from you Jmoore and it was 101 in my garden 1/2 hour ago. Arggh - how will my broccoli and cauliflower ever survive germination to grow.

And to Stella - I have scads and scads of bugs. You name it . . . I have it. My recent pains are the meally bug, the cucumber beetle, and the ever harmless/harmful roly poly bugs. Oh for a lady bug or two to kill of the aphid fest -

I was gone for a couple of days and my poor husband was watering. So my plants are alive but there was an aphid "woodstock" party at my house. My aphids had aphids and they invite everyone else in the neighborhood. Years from now there will be Documentaries noting aphidstock - in the container gardens of my home.

stella1751 · Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:17 pm

Locteach wrote: I was gone for a couple of days and my poor husband was watering. So my plants are alive but there was an aphid "woodstock" party at my house. My aphids had aphids and they invite everyone else in the neighborhood. Years from now there will be Documentaries noting aphidstock - in the container gardens of my home.

ROTFL! This was good. You made me feel good about my cold weather. Aphids? Never seen 'em. Meally bugs? Never heard of 'em. Unfortunately, Wyoming does border Colorado, a state I secretly suspect of blowing its cucumber beetles our way