Frost Warning

[Spin]

So after my rough weekend with the slugs and losing some stuff I was thrilled to see a few things popping up yesterday! Now we're getting a frost warning for tonight and I haven't been able to order row covers yet. Looking for some "homemade" alternatives if anyone can help!

Thanks in advance.

[nes]

I'd throw half-pop bottles over plants that would fit, just make sure they don't touch the sides - but IME that works well.

Can't believe you guys are thinking frost!!! :O

[DoubleDogFarm]

If it's just for the nights, bed sheets, rolls of plastic, tents made of cardboard. You probable need some stakes to keep up off the plants.

[rainbowgardener]

Have you considered moving? Wow! I couldn't handle living somewhere where there could be frost in June! My sympathy!

Re how to cover your plants: all the above, and plastic gallon jugs, if you have some wire frames (like hoops), then you can throw an old blanket over the hoops (don't want to crush your plants)...

whatever you have!

[Spin]

Thanks guys! I have some kebab skewers I'll put around the small stuff so it doesn't get squished and use the sheets. I'm sure the wife will LOOOVE that I'm going to throw a couple of clean sheets out in that mudhole. We don't drink pop, so the sheets will have to do.

Supposed to be nice tomorrow. Nice being 20C. Yes, Rainbow! I think of moving EVERY DAY!!! lol We just moved 2 hours north in December and I loathe it here. I started the garden frankly to keep my sanity! (though with the slugs, rain, frost it's starting to look like that's backfiring.)

[Tate]

I have some of those 24 to 36 inch bamboo stakes. I can buy a pack of them around here for like $5. Stick those in the ground every 4 feet or so and lay tarps over. This forms a little tent. Put a few rocks around the edge of the tarps to keep the wind from blowing underneath. This works great and is easy. It makes a little tent over the plants and protects them. Good luck.

Tate

[Timlin]

We regularly get late frosts here. I throw every sheet, towel, pillow case, light blanket, sometimes newspapers anchored with rocks........you name it if we can get our hands on it we throw it over the plants. (Perennials don't need protection just tender annuals)

I never worry about weighting the plants down, they always perk right back up the next day without worrying about supporting the frost covers.

It's a total pain because you have to be there at some later hour of the morning after the sun has warmed things a bit to remove the covers. Makes it hard if you have to be at work for 9 a.m. and nothing is ready to uncover before you have to leave. I remember those mornings......

[jal_ut]

I use 6 mil plastic sheathing. It is what builders use for a variety of uses. You can get it in several different sizes. I seldom need to use it in June, but always ripen my tomatoes under wraps in September. Lumber yards or home supply stores usually carry it.

[stella1751]

There's an ugly day ahead in our ten-day forecast roughly five days out. I hate covering plants in June, but it generally happens once each year. Maybe this year, we'll get lucky.

I use over-turned containers covered with a quilt and, because of our high winds, bricks weighting down the edges of the quilts. It'll work down to about 27 or 28 F.

[tedln]

If you have any trees around that dropped a lot of leaves last fall, walk along a fence line where the leaves may have piled up. Fill a couple of garbage bags with leaves and then cover your plants with the leaves. Works great for me. Doesn't work at all if the wind is blowing.

Ted

[garden5]

5 gal. buckets also work. I myself used milk jugs this year (with the bottom cut out) and placed them over the tomatoes (with the caps on) and they saved them from a frost.

[stella1751]

The high Saturday, June 12, is forecast to be 45. Right now, the low is forecast to be 38. It rained most of last night, and all the seeds I planted on Memorial Day are finally springing into action. Man, I don't think I can cover everything.

Because of the drainage ditch running behind my house, my temps generally run a little cooler than the rest of Casper. If the winds aren't high, I might have to go with Ted's leaves idea. I don't have a hundred containers and eight quilts.

There's not much I will be able to do about the tomatoes. They're awfully tall now and already caged. I'm glad I planted a back-up bed on June 6. I can cover those little guys.

How did you fare in your freeze, Spin?

[garden5]

I'll bet that straw would work since I've heard that you can over-winter tomatoes under them .

[Spin]

How did you fare in your freeze, Spin?

Everything was fine! I don't think it ever got lower than 3C though...we had a frost warning last night as well...hopefully that's enough of that for a few months!

[tedln]

I use the tomato cages and fill them with leaves. We have all oak leaves so they are pretty large and will pile up in the cages without falling out. I covered some tomato plants last year in tomato cages that were pretty tall. Didn't lose any plants to the frost.

Ted

[stella1751]

I use the tomato cages and fill them with leaves. We have all oak leaves so they are pretty large and will pile up in the cages without falling out. I covered some tomato plants last year in tomato cages that were pretty tall. Didn't lose any plants to the frost.

Ted

Ted, if I wet them to keep them from blowing away, will that compromise their insulating capabilities?

The forecast for tomorrow has been lowered to 43 for a high. I am seriously bummed. Generally this mini cold spell happens around June 8. We had such a cold, cold spring, I should have seen this coming. April was like March; May was like April; now June is like May.

I think if we get some cloud cover I'll be okay. Not.

[tedln]

Stella, It would probably work, but I've never tried it wet. I know citrus growers in Florida spray their trees and fruit with water when a hard freeze is starting. It seems the ice coating on the trees and fruit prevents damage. I don't know how it works, but it does.

Ted

[stella1751]

I think I'll try it for my pole beans. They're only 2" tall right now, so a leaf mulch can be easily done. I could also overturn seedling pots on them before mulching them.

Tonight's low will be 39. It looks like Sunday night will be the killer night, with a forecast low of 37. It could be worse. Western Wyoming is forecast to get snow this weekend, lots of it.

I found a way of coping with the pre-freeze depression, though: I went to weatherbug.com. The forecast there is for three degrees higher than that made by weather.com and the local meteorologists

[JONA878]

Stella, It would probably work, but I've never tried it wet. I know citrus growers in Florida spray their trees and fruit with water when a hard freeze is starting. It seems the ice coating on the trees and fruit prevents damage. I don't know how it works, but it does.

Ted

This system of fruit protection works well Ted but there are some big snags.
We use this method on our orchards and there are a few basic things you have to do.
First is the water must be applied continually all the time the temp is below freezing point.
This must be a steady spray of at least a rate of an 8th of an inch per hour.
It works by the water giving up its latent heat as it freezes. This keeps the new ice that is forming at a constant zero temperature...as fruit is seldom damaged until the temp reaches -2c the bud will tolerate this.
The whole tree becomes incased in ice and is a beautiful sight in the morning.
It is essencial that the spray is constant....any break will allow the temp to drop drastically and will cause more damage than ever.

If you are protecting a supported crop be aware of the weight of the forming ice.
We made the mistake of trying to protect a rasp plantation one year.
The weight of the ice on the wire support structure brought the whole darn lot down.

It does use a huge quantity of water. On an all night run we use over 1 million gallons over 40 acres.
Essential then that the drainage is in good order or you finish with a bog.

Would be interesting to see it tried in a garden ...but I haven't had the nerve to risk my veg on it yet.

[tedln]

Thanks Jone,

Now I know how it works. It may not be worth the effort on a small garden plot. That much water over an extended period of time in a setting where you buy your water can be expensive also.

I also had to do a google search to find out what a "rasp" is. I love raspberries. I always learn a lot when I do a google search. Now I am setting here scratching my head wondering how Russia grows 26% percent of the worlds rasps, the United States, only 13% and the United Kingdon 2%. Seems like the numbers should be reversed.

Ted

[supagirl277]

I almost had a frost warning too! My peas are prbly going to love the cooler weather since I planted them a little late. I hope none of my plants decide they don't like the cold soil. My spinach is growing nicely tho, so I guess its good for some of them. As long as it heats up soon I think it'll be fine.

[stella1751]

Jona, that's really interesting about the water releasing latent heat that keeps the plants from freezing, even thought the water itself freezes. I had no idea of how much practical science I would learn by joining a garden forum.

I know just what you mean when you say how beautiful it is the next morning. When I was living in Sioux Falls, SD, we'd get a freezing rain that would coat everything: Plants, trees, vehicles, fenceposts. In the morning, when the sun came out, the landscape sparkled like it was coated in diamonds. It really took your breath away; it was that beautiful!

Supagirl, I'm glad your frost warning didn't kill. I keep thinking peas. Even if it's a bad, bad freeze tonight, there are always peas!

We've had lots and lots of rain with our cold spell, all of our June allotment and much of July's, and I swear my radishes, just the foliage, of course, have grown six inchres in two days. Yeah, they're bolting, the turkeys! Oh, well. They'll work very nicely on top of one of my compost heaps