Best way to protect plants from freezing
Frost Covers & Cold Snap Care
Whether you fell under the spell of some eye-catching color at the garden center or just wanted to get a jump on the gardening season, planting too early can create a crisis when a cold snap threatens. Helping your seedlings survive the big chill isn't impossible, but it does require some preparation.
In most cases, you can count on makeshift methods to protect plants when the thermometer dips. But for larger plantings, such as a vegetable garden, you'll need to arm yourself ahead of time with the right gadgets to guard plants against frosty mornings.
Know The Limits
In order to understand what steps to take when freeze warnings threaten, you need to know the point at which treasured greenery fades to frost-burned brown. The general rule of thumb is that most plants freeze when temperatures remain at 28°F for five hours.
Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. Seedlings, with their tender new leaves, often give up the ghost when temperatures dip to 32-33°F. Tropical plants have differing low-temperature thresholds. Some keel over when temps fall to 40°F; others crumble at 35°F. Other plants are just hardy by nature and can withstand temperatures as low as 18-20°F. To find the threshold for your plants, search garden books and online resources.
Quick Fixes For Frost Warnings
Pick It Up – The easiest cold-protection scheme is to move plants out of harm's way. This works with seedlings in flats and potted plants. Moving plants under a deck, into a garage or shed, or onto a porch with a roof often offers ample protection.
Count On Water – Water soil just before sundown to raise overnight air temperature around plants as the water evaporates. Fill gallon jugs or buckets with water and place them in the sun during the day. At night, move them near endangered plants. The water will moderate air temperatures; if it freezes, it will release heat. For greatest effect, paint a few water-holding containers black to maximize daytime heating.
Keep Air Moving – Cold, still air does the most damage to plants. Stir a breeze all night with an electric fan to keep frost from forming on plants. Remember to protect electrical connections from moisture.
Cover Plants – Protect plants from all but the hardest freeze (28°F for five hours) by covering them with sheets, towels, blankets, cardboard or a tarp. You can also invert baskets, coolers or any container with a solid bottom over plants. Cover plants before dark to trap warmer air. Ideally, coverings shouldn't touch foliage. Anchor fabric coverings if windy conditions threaten.
In the morning, remove coverings when temperatures rise and frost dissipates. Heat from the sun can build beneath solid coverings, and plants can die from high temperatures.
Break Out Blankets – Keep gardening blankets, often called row covers, on hand. These covers are made from synthetic fibers or plastic in varying thicknesses. Lay row covers directly on plants, or create a tunnel by suspending them over a bed using stakes.
Turn On Lights – An incandescent light bulb generates sufficient heat to raise nearby air temperature enough to protect a plant from the deep freeze. Bulbs must be close to plants (within 2-3 feet) for this technique to work. (Fluorescent bulbs don't generate enough heat for this chore.)
Protect Individual Plants – Install hot caps – rigid plastic containers with venting holes – over individual seedlings at planting time. Hot caps act like cloches (mini greenhouses), but venting holes eliminate the daily chore of placing and removing the covering. Create the equivalent of a hot cap using plastic two-liter bottles or gallon jugs with bottoms cut off and lids removed (but saved). Replace lids at night when cold temperatures swoop through.
A twist on the hot cap idea is a Wall O'Water tepee, which encircles individual plants with a sleeve of water-filled tubes. The water absorbs the sun's heat during the day. At night, as the water slowly freezes, it releases the stored radiant heat of the sun, keeping air inside the tepee frost-free.
More Lawn Solution Articles for You
Winter Garden Checklist For Mild Climates
Winter garden checklist during mild climates. Winter doesn't signal the end of gardening season. There is many chores such as planting,...
read more
How To Prepare Your Garden For Frost
If winter is coming soon, this simple to-do list will help you prepare your garden for frosty weather, from harvesting, to draining hoses to...
read more
Planting After Danger Of Frost
For a successful spring planting, be aware of the danger of frost. It can kill young seedlings. Knowing the last frost date in your area can...
read more
Copyright © 2023 bioadvanced.
com All Right Reserved.
Best Way To Cover And Keep Plants From Freezing
Home › Problems › Environmental Problems
Environmental Problems
By: Heather Rhoades
Image by travelview
Gardeners plant flowers, shrubs and trees that can survive in their garden during typical weather. But what can a gardener do when the weather is anything but typical? Unexpected freezes can devastate landscapes and gardens. They can leave a gardener wondering how to protect plants from freezing, and question what is the best way to cover and keep plants from freezing.
At What Temperature Do Plants Freeze?
When cold weather comes your way, your first thought will be at what temperature do plants freeze, in other words, how cold is too cold? There is no easy answer to this.
Different plants freeze and die at different temperatures. That is why they are given a hardiness rating. Some plants produce special hormones that keep them from freezing, and these plants have a lower hardiness rating (meaning they can survive colder weather) than plants who produce less of this hormone.
That being said, there are also different definitions of survival. A plant may lose all its foliage during a freeze, and some can regrow from the stems or even the roots. So, while the leaves cannot survive a certain temperature, other parts of the plant can.
How to Protect Plants from Freezing
If you are only expecting a light freeze, you may be able to protect plants in a freeze simply by covering them with a sheet or a blanket. This acts like insulation, keeping warm air from the ground around the plant. The warmth may be enough to keep a plant from freezing during a short cold snap.
For added protection when you protect plants in a freeze, you can place plastic over the sheets or blankets to help keep warmth in. Never cover a plant with just plastic, however, as the plastic will damage the plant. Make sure that a cloth barrier is between the plastic and the plant.
Be sure to remove the sheets and blanket and plastic first thing in the morning after an overnight cold snap.
If you do not do so, condensation can build up and freeze again under the covering, which will damage the plant.
When protecting plants in a freeze that’s longer or deeper, you may have no choice but to expect to sacrifice all or part of the plant in hopes that the roots will survive. Start by heavily mulching the roots of the plant with either wood mulch or hay. For added protection, you can nestle gallon jugs of warm water into the mulch each night. This will help drive off some of the cold that can kill the roots.
If you have time before a freeze happens, you can also create insulation barriers around a plant as a way how to protect plants from freezing. Tie up the plant as neatly as possible. Drive stakes that are as tall as the plant into the ground around the plant. Wrap the stakes in burlap so that the plant appears to be fenced in. Stuff the inside of this fence with hay or leaves. Again, you can place milk jugs of warm water on the inside, at the base of this fence each night to help supplement the heat.
A string of Christmas lights wrapped around the plant can also help add additional heat. As soon as the freeze passes, remove the covering so that the plant can get the sunlight it needs.
Watering the soil (not the leaves or stems of the plants) will also help the soil retain heat and can help the plant’s roots and lower branches survive.
This article was last updated on
Read more about Environmental Problems
Did you find this helpful? Share it with your friends!
You might also like…
How to protect the plant from returning frosts
Contents:
- Danger of returning frosts
- Weatherman himself
- Frost protection
Efforts to grow seedlings or perennials can be nullified by the vagaries of the weather. Alas, in most regions of Russia, return frosts are a constant phenomenon.
So, they can be anticipated and protect your plants.
Frost hazard
When it seems that spring has come irrevocably, we put away warm clothes in the closet. But to wake up on a May or even June morning and see from the window - snow is quite real. Things are taken out of the closet again, and we warm ourselves. And although by noon, most likely, there will be no trace of snow left, the plants can be severely damaged.
Such frosts are not dangerous if they occur in the second half of April, for example. Plants are still in their infancy, and they are quite resistant to the external environment. But if in the morning it froze in June, when berries, vegetables or trees began to bloom, it’s bad. Under the influence of cold, the juice in the cells freezes. Cells are destroyed and die. This leads to loss of yield and death of the plant itself. There are, of course, cold-resistant crops. Greens are not afraid of frost: parsley, onion, celery, spinach, dill.
Carrots also behave steadfastly. These plants withstand short-term frosts up to -7-9°C. Those who suffer from a light frost are significantly more. At the slightest negative value, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, many flowers, eggplants, tomatoes and sweet peppers are damaged and die. Cherry, plum, apricot, peach do not tolerate negative temperatures during the flowering period.
Weatherman himself
In order not to lose plants, you need to carefully monitor the weather throughout the season. Each gardener finds for himself a source of information about the weather. Who can be trusted. Someone relies on the data of federal agencies, someone only believes in the forecasts of the local hydrometeorological center. As a rule, the most accurate forecast is for a day or three. Long-term forecasts come true less often, and if you have a weather map for the whole summer ahead, this is nothing more than a beautiful picture. It is useful to compare readings from different sources.
If everyone around is only talking about the upcoming sub-zero temperatures, you should not think that they will bypass your site. Watch the indicators of your thermometer: if by the evening the bar has dropped closer to zero, it is clear that at night it will drop even lower. This is an occasion to take measures to protect your future crop.
Frost protection
Plants can be protected in many ways. We divide them into emergency measures and preventive ones. Prevention in this case is hardening. Yes, plants can be hardened off too! You can do this with tomato, pepper, and eggplant seedlings while they are still growing in your home. About a week and a half before planting in open ground, begin to accustom young plants to outdoor conditions. To do this, they are taken out into the courtyard or onto the balcony, where a window is opened. This can be done at a temperature of 10°C. At first, the seedlings are exposed to the open air for 15 minutes, then for an hour, then for two, and so on, gradually increasing the time spent outside.
Such procedures accustom plants to cool air. This means that they adapt much faster, and if frosts suddenly occur, they will endure them more steadfastly.
From emergency measures, we single out sprinkling, smoking and sheltering.
Sprinkling - a method that seems strange, but proven over the years! It is effective if frosts are expected to be small (not lower than -5°C) and the weather is calm. Closer to the night, when the temperature starts to drop to zero, you need to water the plants from a watering can or a hose with a drip nozzle, simulating a little rain. At the border of positive and negative temperatures, water will begin to evaporate. This will provoke the release of heat, which will save the plants from freezing. Cold air currents simply will not reach the ground in this case.
Smoke - creating a smoke screen that also keeps the cold out of your property.
In the evening, bonfires are lit around the perimeter of the site. The most important thing is that they do not burn actively, but slowly smolder and smoke. Sawdust, brushwood, leaves, tops are used, and all this should be slightly moistened. Consider the direction of the wind so that the smoke does not “run away” from the site, but protects it. Smoke perfectly protects against frost, but this method is difficult to organize - you need to lay combustible material in advance, collect it and maintain it until the morning. In addition, smoke is unpleasant in itself, and the method can hardly be called environmentally friendly. In anticipation of frosts, mono plants are easy to cover. To do this, you need to have a film or spunbond (similar materials) at hand. A greenhouse can be improvised quickly and easily if the household has metal or plastic arcs. They are simply placed over the beds, covered with a film on top and pressed down with bricks at the bottom. To prevent the film from dangling from the wind, it is attached to the arcs with linen clips.
If the goal is to keep warm, the best material is plastic wrap. Just remember that at the end of the frost, you will need to open the garden bed so that the plants do not burn during the warming period.
Bushes, beds with berry bushes are covered with non-woven covering materials (we talked about them in detail in article “Choosing covering material for plants” ).
A working way is to cover individual seedling bushes with cut plastic bottles or cups from sour cream, yogurt. It is only desirable that there should still be a small hole for the plant to breathe.
The use of cryoprotectants is a convenient and reliable way to protect plants from frost. Purchase the composition Purshat-K for the farm: it will help prevent freezing of plants very quickly and easily. There will be no need to mess around with shelters, making fires. In general, all the methods of protecting plants from the cold described above require your personal presence on the site in anticipation of a cold snap.
The cryoprotector works successfully even without your presence. If you are leaving the dacha for a long time, and frosts are likely, according to forecasts, just treat the plants Purshatom-K from a sprayer. It forms a protective film on the leaves and stems, which will not allow the juices inside the plant to freeze. Such a "shelter" will allow you to survive both frosts that last for several days, and colds that will return, for example, in a week. Flowers, bushes, trees, and vegetable seedlings can be processed in the same way. Watch the weather and take care of young plants - this is the key to a high harvest and peace of mind.
Effective methods for saving plants from recurrent frosts
With the approach of spring, all summer residents and gardeners start preparing for the new sowing season. One of the main activities at this time is the preparation for return frosts. A sharp drop in temperature in May and early June is a common occurrence for Russian latitudes. The situation is dangerous because trees, shrubs, sown vegetables, planted flowers and berries can die from a cold snap. Heat-loving crops are especially affected. Consider how to protect plants from spring frosts. What to do to enjoy a rich harvest in the fall.
Which plants tolerate frosts more easily
| Crop name | What low t withstand, about C |
| Peas, legumes, celery, garlic, parsnips | Seedlings are able to survive a decrease in air temperature and on the ground to -5 without consequences. |
| Raspberry bushes | Within 2-3 days, it will withstand the onslaught of frosts up to -3-4. On the third day, do something urgently. Otherwise, the bed cannot be saved. |
| Strawberries and strawberries | You will be able to survive the temperature drop to -9 painlessly. |
| Carrot, parsnip, parsley Radish, cabbage, horseradish Spinach, onion, rhubarb and sorrel | Able to withstand and not die when t drops to -5-6. |
| Blackberry, raspberry | Rarely affected by frost attacks. Saves shrubs late flowering. |
Cold-sensitive crops
- Early flowering stone fruit, especially planted in lowlands, away from water bodies. Also weakened and sick specimens, which are the first to be at risk.
- Apricots, apples, plums and cherries are considered cold sensitive.
Also cherry, pear.
- Grapes, gooseberries and blueberries do not tolerate frost well.
- Easily freezes early planted seedlings of vegetable crops. These are eggplant, tomato and pepper grown from seeds.
- A sharp cold snap is detrimental to strawberries, strawberries, gourds. They begin to suffer from cold when the thermometer falls to -1 about C.
- Even if the berries grown from mustaches or seeds were strong, the consequences cannot be avoided. After freezing, the bushes stop growing, leave for a long time and painfully. But still, part of the crop can usually be saved. This is due to the fact that the culture has a fairly long flowering period. Even if the early flower buds suffer from the cold, fall off, after resuscitation, the plants will again throw out the flower stalks and delight with ripe berries.
- A number of heat-loving varieties of garden flowers also suffer from spring cold. Drop in air and soil t to -2 about C causes a halt in growth and development.
As a result, even if the flowers do not die, flowering is still delayed by about 1.5-2 weeks.
- Perennial salvia and rose do not tolerate spring cold. Annuals dahlias, nasturtiums, chrysanthemums grown for seedlings from seeds of marigolds and zinnias. It is recommended not to rush to transfer them to the ground. It is better to wait until the threat of May frosts completely disappears.
Food for thought! The degree of susceptibility to sudden changes in temperature largely depends on what stage of blooming the buds are in. The ovaries withstand temperatures down to -1 o C. The buds fall already at a frost of -3 o C. Blossoming buds die at -3.3-3.5 o C. Blossoming buds darken and fall off if it gets colder to -2 o C. In the flowering stage, plants become the weakest, most susceptible. Fruits will not set if a flowering tree, bush or flower had to survive a frost of up to -1.5 about C.
How to protect the beds from return frosts are no longer scary.
- First of all, there are regions in Russia where the spring is long, and the years are short, not coming soon.
- Secondly, today the climate is changing rapidly. Even the southern regions are not immune from sudden changes in temperature, night cooling.
What is a return frost? This is when at night the temperature drops for a certain time, falling to 0 about C. Basically, such surprises occur at night or in the early morning, before sunrise.
How to protect the beds, especially those that are sensitive to cold? There is a set of measures that have proven useful and effective in practice:
| Event | How to organize, conduct |
| Mulching | Ideal for garden beds.
Mulching helps conserve heat by reducing soil heat transfer and increasing moisture above the soil surface. When to line? Best in the evening, after watering. For greater effect, a layer of agrofibre should be laid on top of the organic mulch carpet. Then the beds will not be afraid of any frost. |
| Hilling | Mostly used for potatoes.
|
| Covering materials | A simple and effective way to save almost any vegetable garden. It consists in creating a mini-greenhouse from special covering materials, any bottles, boxes and containers that are at hand.
Any type of shelter will reliably protect the beds from harmful contact with the outside world. Important! When constructing any protective devices, using covering materials and containers, try to keep them less in contact with the leaves, tops of plants. Therefore, mini-greenhouses are built for relatively tall seedlings, young bushes and trees.
Only use transparencies! Black and any dark ones will not let heat through to the roots of seedlings. |
| Fertilizer spraying | Preparing potassium-phosphorus top dressing.
The resulting mixture is sprayed on trees, shrubs, flowers and other horticultural crops a day before the predicted frost. |
| Root applications | Landings are watered at the roots with fertilizer solutions with a high content of potassium, phosphorus. |
| Smoke | The easiest way, but has some peculiarities. The essence is as follows:
Smoke creates a curtain, an obstacle between cold and plants, warms the air by several degrees. What are the features of the method? It will help with frosts not lower than -4 about C. This method of protection can cause indignation of the neighbors if the smoke is carried to their garden. |
| Sprinkler or irrigation | The method is more convenient, more efficient than sprinkling, so it is considered quite popular.
What does it do? The moisture that has fallen on the seedlings at minus begins to actively evaporate. As a result of active evaporation, the air around is warmed up, not allowing the cold to fall close to the ground, where the roots of the plants are. The method is effective, it saves even in cases when it gets colder to the level of -5-7 about C. The main thing is to water a few hours before the cold snap. Otherwise, the moisture will begin to evaporate early, all efforts will be nullified. |
| Heavy or wet irrigation | The method is applicable to all plants, for example, seedlings from vegetable seeds, young and mature berries, etc.
The protection method works similarly to the previous one. Moisture begins to evaporate, warms the air and prevents plantings from freezing. |
| Green manures | Green manure seeds are sown in advance between rows, in areas where vegetables, flowers, berries, any heat-loving varieties are planted. Green manure with a living wall will protect plantings from extreme temperatures. After, when warm weather sets in, they are cut off, leaving between the rows like mulch. |
| Landing planning |
|
Weatherman himself
It's good to be interested in the weather forecast, but we all know that meteorologists often make mistakes. Not because they are incompetent. It's just that often they give out data not for a single region or city, but in general, for the region. That is why the weather varies so much in individual places located in the same region. What to do? Learn on your own, determine what the weather will be like in the coming days. Become a weather forecaster and do everything to prevent freezing of plants.
Nature and folk wisdom will help
| Sign, natural phenomenon | What will happen (probable course of events) |
| Early spring, warm first half of the season | In May there is a great threat of cooling. Moreover, a significant drop in temperature is likely to occur closer to the end of May, beginning of June. |
| Early spring, warm | Expect return frosts May 1-5, 15-20. In addition to freezing of the soil, wet snow is possible. |
| Warm during the day, cold in the evening | Wait for cold weather if a sharp drop in temperature occurs against the background of such factors:
The probability is especially high if at 19:00-20:00 the temperature begins to drop sharply, and by 21:00 the thermometer already shows +3-4 about C. |
| Moon yellow like a head of cheese | Expect frost in the air and on the ground. |
| Sparrows sit silently, ruffled and hiding their tails. | High chance of rain with sleet. The cold will come soon. |
| The weather is cloudy, but it clears up closer to the night | Cooling will be for sure. |
| The fish does not bite and goes to the depth | A sharp cold will come in a day. |
| The frogs have stopped croaking, they are silent | There will be a cold snap, frosts on the ground. |
| Water lilies on ponds raised leaves | No more cold weather. You can start planting heat-loving crops, sowing seeds of flowers and vegetables in open ground. |
| Viburnum blooms in a riotous color | The threat has passed. |
| Red willow blossoms | The earth is ripe, there will be no sharp drops in temperature. It's time to go to the field, sow the soil. |
| Willow and aspen blossomed | It's time to sow carrot seeds in the garden. At the same time it is already possible to sow:
|
| Maple blossoms | It's time to plant the beet seeds. |
| Lilac and rowan blossoms | It's time to sow cucumber seeds outdoors. Plant seedlings:
|
| It's time for cherry plum, cherry and blackthorn to blossom | Time to sow corn seeds outdoors. |
| The cuckoo has flown in and is calling | Heat-loving crops can be sown outdoors. |
| Oak blossomed | It's time to sow peas. |
| Three frosts in May | When bird cherry blossoms, when apricot blossoms, the temperature drops especially when oak blossoms. |
This is interesting! The people noticed. If March is dry, April is damp, and May is cold, expect a rich harvest in autumn.
Calculations help predict the weather
In one of the issues of the magazine "Country Secrets" a note was published by our compatriot, an experienced gardener Yu. M. Alekseev. Based on personal experience, he told how you can determine whether there will be frost in May.
- To do this, you need an ordinary outdoor thermometer, which is hung out in a shady place where the sun hardly gets.
- To predict changes in the weather, you need to fix the thermometer readings at 13:00 (daytime) and at 21:00 (evening).
- After you need to find the difference between the received numbers.
- Check the final number against the data given in the table.
- Thus, to find out how likely the threat of the return of frost is.
Factors affecting forecast accuracy
Forecast accuracy depends on a number of weather factors. They focus on changes that occur mainly in the evening or at night. What factors indicate that there will be no cooling, even if the thermometer shows otherwise:
- The wind increased, became gusty and cold.
- Cloudiness has sharply increased.
- Clouds of fog came out of nowhere.
- Dew has fallen on the grass and leaves of the trees.
Good to know! In cities, on hills covered with vegetation, the ambient temperature is usually 2-3 about higher than in hilly areas and in lowlands.
If the seedlings and seedlings are still frozen
Unfortunately, not all crops will be able to survive the cold snap. Even strong plants sometimes cannot stand frost and freeze slightly. What to do in this case? Is it possible to somehow revive the garden and vegetable garden?
- It is recommended to wrap seedlings, frozen trees and shrubs with hay, straw or rags. They will warm up, slowly thaw. There is hope that they will fully recover.
- Frozen seedlings and crops will help save the following method. In the morning, before sunrise, spray the damaged plants with a solution, where 2 g of boron, potassium permanganate and copper were thrown into 10 liters of water. Spray completely every bush! The water should be cold, not warm.
- Experienced gardeners advise to fluff up frostbitten beds, water the root zone of damaged plants with a weak solution of complex fertilizers. This method is good for grapes. And the tomatoes will help, albeit partially. Frozen tops are unlikely to come to life, but with 100% certainty we can say that powerful side shoots will grow.
- Wait a day after the frost, then water the bed with tomatoes and cabbage with water at room temperature.
How much to pour? Under each bush 1 liter. Before watering, it is recommended to trim the damaged tops and leaves to a healthy, undamaged tissue.
- One day after watering, spray frozen seedlings with any growth activator. Suitable Kornevin, Epin, Epin-extra, Heteroauxin or analogues. Prepare the spray mixture strictly according to the instructions on the package. How much will be needed? Based on the calculation of 75-100 ml for each bush. The same solution is recommended to water the soil near the plants. Pour about 175-200 ml under each seedling.
- After 3-4 days, it is recommended to make top dressing from 10 liters of water, where 1 tbsp. l. urea.
- After about a week, 8-9 days, feed the affected crops with a top dressing with a high content of potassium. The solution is prepared based on 10 liters of water 1 tbsp. l. fertilizers. Under each bush, approximately 175-200 ml is poured.
- If frost has affected potato seedlings, it is also worth trimming the tops and leaves to living tissue.
