How to protect garden from frost

7 Ways to Protect Your Plants From a Sudden Frost

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An unexpected freeze in spring or fall can quickly devastate your garden.

Early in the growing season, it is especially destructive for tender seedlings that are too fragile to survive sudden dips in temperature.

Even in autumn, when we’re trying to get as much food harvested as possible, it can force more established plants to become dormant and non-productive.

What is Frost?

Frost is defined as a thin layer of ice that forms when water vapor changes from a gas to a solid as it is exposed to temperatures below the freezing point.

Frost injures plants when water in the plant cells turn into ice crystals, which disrupts the movement of fluids and damages plant tissues.

A light frost of between 28°F to 32°F won’t wreak as much havoc on plants as a hard frost below 28°F will.

It’s important to note that some veggies actually taste better after a frost. Here’s ten that do.

When to Expect Frost?

While keeping an eye on the weather forecast goes hand in hand with gardening, there are a few environmental conditions that will typically lead to a frost.

Cloudy nights help insulate the earth from sudden swings in temperature, but clear skies have a cooling effect that allows heat to escape into the atmosphere.

Calm conditions with little wind are more likely to reach a freezing point since very low air movement means warmer currents are not being distributed over the ground.

Clearly temperature is a major factor for frost, especially when there is moisture in the air (during foggy conditions or when dew is formed overnight) which promotes ice crystal formation.

How to Protect Your Plants from Frost

Frost may be deadly to our garden crops, but practicing a bit of vigilance and having some supplies at the ready can make a huge difference in protecting your delicate plants from the cold.

1.

Bring Potted Plants Inside

When a frost is in the forecast, wait until dusk and move your potted plants and hanging baskets indoors.

Plants situated in containers are more prone to frost damage since they won’t benefit at all from the insulating powers of the earth, like in-ground plants would.

Potted plants are much more susceptible to root damage in colder temperatures.

Choose a place that isn’t too warm – as sudden changes in temperature can shock plants – such as a spot in your garage, shed, or basement.

Inspect plants thoroughly for pests and disease before bringing them inside your home. Keep plants isolated from your houseplants to prevent the potential spread of insects.

Once the risk of frost has passed, haul all your plants back outside first thing in the morning.

2.

Water Plants in the Afternoon

It may seem counterintuitive but keeping the soil moist can help protect plants from the cold.

Moist soil has an insulating effect, which radiates heat upward come nightfall.

When watering plants before a cold snap, be sure to do it in the midday when temperatures are still somewhat warm.

3.

Add a Thick Layer of Mulch

Just like slipping on a sweater when it’s chilly, adding a layer of mulch to your garden beds will help protect the soil from sudden swings in temperature.

Use straw, wood chips, leaf mold, or even just a heap of leaves to provide crucial insulation for the plants’ root systems below ground. Mulch heavily, to a depth between 3 to 6 inches, to create a good barrier.

Leave an inch or two opening around the central stalk so that the warmth of the soil can travel up through the plant.

Although mulching your garden beds is one of the best things you can do to keep things low maintenance, you’ll want to pull some of this protective mulch away when the weather warms up.

4.

Cover Up Individual Plants with a Cloche

A cloche is a bell shaped cover made from plastic or glass that helps keep smaller plants warm and cosy in cold weather.

You can purchase plastic garden cloches – like this 3-pack by Tierra Garden here – and reuse them when needed during the inclement weather of spring and fall.

If you’re in a pinch, many things around the home can be used as a cloche.

An upside down bucket or flower pot would do the trick. Or cut off the bottoms of plastic milk jugs and nestle them into the soil.

When using cloches to ward against frost, place them over your plants just before nightfall and uncover them in the morning so they can benefit from the warmth and energy of the sun.

5.

Give them a Blanket

To protect a larger group of plants, simply cover them up with blankets, bed sheets, towels, or drop cloths.

Before laying down the fabric, place several stakes around your plants so that when your cover them, it creates a tent-like structure.

Allow the material to drape over the plants all the way to the soil line. Don’t cinch it around the trunk or stem of the plant, as tying it off will prevent the heat of the earth from emanating up through the plant.

For extra frost resistance, add a final layer of plastic – a tarp or an old shower curtain, for instance, would work great.

Just be careful that no part of the plastic covering makes contact with your plant’s foliage as plastic can damage your plants.

Weigh down the corners and edges with heavy stones or bricks to prevent the coverings from blowing away in the night. Done just before dusk, you’ll need to remove these coverings first thing in the morning the next day.

If dealing with the threat of frost is a recurring theme in your garden, you may wish to invest in specially designed, reusable, and breathable frost blankets like this one, that can be cut to size.

On really chilly nights, mylar thermal blankets (aka space blankets), with the aluminized side facing down toward the plants, helps reflect 99% of the heat back to the earth.

Place space blankets on top of plastic covers.

Another option for neat and orderly garden rows is this mini hoop house kit that comes with steel hoops and a fitted, heavy duty garden fleece covering that conserves warmth.

6.

Wrap Your Trees

Younger trees, between the ages of 1 to 4 years old, are more much more sensitive frost injury, which may outright kill them.

Likewise, the buds and blossoms of fruit trees exposed to frost in spring will stunt their growth and result in a reduced harvest for the rest of the growing season.

Citrus trees are particularly frost tender and should be protected when temperatures dip to 29°F.

To protect trees from the cold, wrap their trunks with towels, blankets, cardboard, rags, or pipe insulation.

You can also use burlap or felted tree protector wraps.

Starting at the base of the trunk, wrap around and around, making sure to overlap layers by a couple inches. Keep wrapping in this manner until you reach the lowest branches of the tree.

Secure the wrap to the tree with some twine or weatherproof tape.

If temperatures reach 26°F for a prolonged period, add a layer of plastic sheeting over your wrap for added frost protection.

7.

Keep the Air Moving

When frost threatens vast tracts of land in commercial agriculture, farmers have employed various tactics to simulate wind.

One such device is a selective inverted sink, a large fan in a chimney that pulls cold air up and away while it pulls warmer air down to the ground.

Another method is to task a number of low-flying helicopters to fly over crops to keep the air flowing!

While neither of these are practical solutions for the home gardener, the concept of air movement to ward off frost can be utilized at a much smaller scale.

Simulating wind this way can raise the temperatures in your garden patch by 2°F to 7°F.

On still nights with no rain in the forecast, an electric fan can be used to create an artificial breeze.

Because electronics and water don’t mix, you may wish to invest in a powerful blower made for outdoor use, like this rechargeable one from Amazon.

When possible, place portable fans in a sheltered spot. To ensure warmer air is drawn downward, set it up a few feet off the ground – the higher the better.

Try to situate it so that the breeze moves over every plant in the plot.

What to Do After a Frost

You’ll know your plants have been damaged by frost when the leaves and branches turn black or brown.

Wait until the weather warms up and all danger of frost has passed before pruning.

Dead branches and twigs provide a bit of protection too, so hold off until you see new growth before cutting the damaged foliage away.

How to Make a More Frost-Tolerant Garden

Save yourself the panic and heartbreak of losing your flowers, trees, and crops to a sudden frost by planning your garden accordingly.

Plants that are native to your region are much better adapted to the temperature swings of your biome. Use the Native Plant Finder to get ideas on indigenous bushes, grasses, flowers, and trees.

Other frost hardy flowering plants include crocus, pansy, tulip, calendula, sweet alyssum, and snapdragon.

As for edibles, there are plenty of cold hardy veggies that often taste sweeter when touched by frost:

Root Vegetables – Carrots, potatoes, beets, parsnips, turnips, onions, garlic, radish, and rutabaga.

Cruciferous Vegetables – Broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, bok choy, and collard greens.

Leafy Greens – Spinach, lettuce, Swiss chard, arugula, tatsoi, and mache.

When planning out your garden in the spring, avoid planting frost tender plants in low lying areas and in depressions in the ground that create frost pockets.

Since warmer air rises and cooler air sinks, plants sensitive to frost should be sowed in higher ground, in raised garden beds, or in containers that are easy to bring inside when cold weather hits.

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Protecting Plants From Frost: How to Prevent Frost Damage

Find out how to protect your garden from frost. We’ll explain which vegetables are damaged by frost, different ways to cover and protect your plants from frost, and which vegetables can be left in the ground (because frost actually improves their flavor!). If you prepare in advance, you won’t be left stumbling around in the dark the night before freezing weather—and you’ll save your precious plants.

Frost Dates

First, know approximately when your location typically gets frost. See our Frost Dates Calculator for local average frost dates in spring and fall.

Note: On weather sites, many frost dates are based on a 50% chance of frost. However, our calculator assumes a 30% probability of frost. After all, do you want a 50% chance of your plant dying?

Second, know that a light frost—32°F and colder—kills all tender plants such as tomatoes. Hardier plants such as spinach and kale will survive until there’s a hard freeze—28°F and colder. (We explain the frost tolerance level of different crops below. )

As gardeners, our frost dates are based on 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) to avoid the risk of any plant death. However, know that even if air temperatures are as high as 38°F, frosts may occur on the ground and on plants. It’s better to protect plants just in case!

Weather Forecast

Of course, frost dates are only a general guide. They are not predicting the upcoming year’s frost; rather, they are averages based on multiple years of historical data. Plus, frost dates are based on the nearest reporting weather station; they don’t reflect smaller “microclimates” in your yard such as a low spot or an area near water or pavement.

So, keep a close eye on the daily weather forecast! If it looks like temperatures are going to drop, get ready to protect tender plants. Moisture also determines whether frost will nip your plants. Condensation warms and evaporation cools. When moisture in the air condenses on plants and soil, heat is produced, sometimes raising the temperature enough to save the plants. On the other hand, if the air is dry, moisture in the soil will evaporate, removing some heat.

Also, the first frosts of the season usually happen on clear, calm nights.

What Temperatures Cause Frost Damage?

Frost causes damage and even failure to many vegetable crops. But some crops will taste even better with frost. The flavor of broccoli, for instance, actually improves if the plant has experienced a frost, and carrots get sweeter as the temperature drops. Root crops develop more sugars when the soil temperature is below 40° F; and Brussels sprouts are often best after a light freeze.

How low can you go? The temperatures shown in the graphic below tell you when the frost will cause damage to the respective vegetable.

Frost Resistance of Vegetables

Another way gardeners look at frost resistance is to categorize from “hardy” to “tender.” Some plants (“hardy”) tolerate some amount of short-term freezing, while other plants (“tender”) are killed or injured by freezing temperatures.

Hardy Vegetables (Frost hardy; below 28° F):

Can withstand freezing temperatures and hard frosts for short periods without injury.
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Collards
Horseradish
Kale
Kohlrabi
Mustard Greens
Onion (sets and seeds)
Parsley
Peas
Radish
Rutabaga
Spinach
Turnips

Frost-Tolerant Vegetables (can withstand light frost; 28 to 32° F):

Beet
Carrot
Cauliflower
Celery
Chard
Chinese Cabbage
Endive
Jerusalem artichoke
Lettuce
Onion, garlic, chives
Parsnips
Potatoes
Rhubarb

Tender Vegetables (No frost)

The following vegetables are damaged by light frost. They should be protected from frost or harvested before frost.
Beans
Cucumber
Eggplant
Muskmelon
Okra
Pepper
Pumpkin
Squash, summer
Squash, winter
Sweet corn
Sweet potato
Tomato
Watermelon

Notes:

Pumpkins and winter squash may be able to tolerate very light frosts, but it is better to protect them if possible.
Tomatoes can be harvested and will ripen off the vine; they must be at least “mature green” (changed from the deep green to almost turning red)
Muskmelons must “slip” easily from the vine to to ripen further at room temperatures.

How to Protect Plants from Frost

Of course, the main way to protect plants from frosts is to cover them with a blanket or row cover. This material traps the heat to keep plants warmer. It’s worth the time to cover your crops because sometimes an early freeze is a freak incident and there are many days of great weather to follow.

Row covers are made of non-woven polyester. Garden stores will sell “row covers” of different weights or thickness.
Bed sheets, drop cloths, or medium-weight fabric will also make suitable covers for vulnerable plants. Do not use plastic.
Drape loosely to allow for air circulation. Do not let the material rest on the plants.
Secure to ground with rocks or bricks or stakes to keep the covering from touching the foliage beneath.
Keep sheets or row covers at the ready, stored somewhere dry, neatly rolled up and off the ground to keep them away from vermin. If you use polythene covers, hose them down if they’re dirty and dry them so they’re ready to use when frost threatens. It’s best to have all covers in place well before sunset. Before you cover the plants in late afternoon or early evening, water your plants lightly.
Apply covers in early evening as winds die down, and remove the coverings when temperatures rise the next day (mid-morning) so that plants can get full exposure to the warming sunlight.

For a few smaller plants you can make “hot caps” from recycled milk or soda bottles with the bottoms cut out, paper bags, or newspaper tents. For example, just cut a 2-liter clear plastic soda bottle in half.

Mulch Low Plantings

For a short cold period, low plantings can be covered with mulch, such as straw or leaf mold. Remove once the danger of frost has passed. Read more about using mulch.

Create Cold Frames

In the future, consider cold frames for your garden, either portable or permanent. Here’s how to make cold frames.

Or, make a mini-hoop house using homemade hoops of PVC water pipe, slid onto lengths of rebar hammered into the ground. Connect the hoops at the top with a central ridge of piping. It’s an effective way to keep winter hardy salads and vegetables safe from harsh weather. See how to make a row cover tunnel.

Employ Irrigation

Moist soil can hold up to four times more heat than a dry soil, conducting heat faster to the soil surface, and keeping the air above it about five degrees (F) warmer. So water well before a frost. A variation on this water theme is milk jugs, painted black, full of water in the garden. These absorb heat during the day, releasing it at night.

Protect Root Crops

In milder regions, they root crops can be left in the ground. Some, like parsnips, actually become sweeter after a frost. Mulch your root vegetables with a thick layer of compost, straw, dried leaves or leaf mold, but if the ground is likely to freeze solid for a long period, dig them up and store them somewhere cool, dry and frost-free.

Protect Containers

In winter the biggest enemy of crops in pots is persistently wet potting soil. Make sure there is adequate drainage by placing containers onto pot feet (or improvise with small rocks). Some containers can crack in very cold conditions. To prevent this, wrap pots in bubble plastic or burlap. Move pots somewhere more sheltered if possible, for instance against a South-facing house wall, or into a greenhouse.

Protect Soil in Winter

Don’t forget about the soil! Keep soil covered to protect beneficial soil life such as worm-, bug- and fungi-happy. Before it gets too cold, add a thick layer of organic matter to the surface to keep soil life fed and protect the soil itself from erosion.

VIDEO: How To Protect Plants

See how to protect your garden with some of these techniques.

Fall Frost Tips

If you’re a gardener, it’s the first fall frost which is most concerning, as it can result in a lot of lost crops. Here are a few more fall frost damage prevention tips:

Water the soil thoroughly before frost. Water holds heat better than dry soil, protecting roots and warming air near the soil. However, avoid soaking the ground as this can lead to the water freezing within the soil and damaging the roots.
In the fall, the first frost is often followed by a prolonged period of frost-free weather. Cover tender flowers and vegetables on frosty nights, and you may be able to enjoy extra weeks of gardening.
Mulch your garden beds. Mulching with materials like straw, pine needles and wood chips helps preserve heat and moisture and so prevents frosts forming.

In fall, protecting tender plants and harvesting crops before frost hits are most important. Before a light frost:

Bring houseplants (especially tropicals) and other tender plants indoors before the first light frost arrives. Keep them in a sunny window in a relatively moist room; the kitchen is often best.
Harvest basil and other tender herbs. Even if they survive the frost, they don’t do well in cold temperatures. The same is true for most annuals.
Harvest all tender vegetables and tender greens, including: tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, beans, cucumbers, watermelons, cantaloupe, okra, squash, and sweet corn. Green tomatoes don’t need light to ripen, and in fact ripening can be slowed by light. Keep fruit 55 and 65 degrees (F) for best ripening. Here are a few tips for ripening green tomatoes.

For plants that can survive a light frost, add a heavy layer of mulch to keep the ground around them from freezing. You can still harvest late into the fall as long as the ground isn’t frozen. These veggies include: beets, broccoli, cabbage, celery, lettuce, parsnips, arugula, swiss chard, and other leafy greens.

Wait to harvest plants that can survive a hard frost last, such as: carrots, garlic, horseradish, kale, rutabagas, leeks, parsnips, radishes, spinach, and turnips.

Spring Frost Tips

Here are some extra tips for preventing frost damage in spring. It can be a real bummer to lose young plants to a late spring frost.

In early spring, warm up your soil faster by covering it over with row covers or garden fleece. This technique is particularly useful for heavy or clay soils that retain a lot of moisture. Lay the material over the ground at least one week before sowing and soil temperatures will rise by a couple of degrees, making all the difference for early sowings.
While frosts are still possible, plant cool-season crops that are more tolerant of colder temperatures. Crops like peas, spinach, kale, and cabbage can power through a light spring frost.
Start tender or warm-season crops—like tomatoes and peppers—indoors or after the threat of frost has passed. Consult our Planting Calendar to see recommended planting dates.

Designing Your Garden to Reduce Frost Damage

A garden designed with frost in mind can help to mitigate the extent of cold damage experienced by your plants. Here are a selection of different ways that you can reduce the amount of cooling in and around your garden:

Consider Garden Placement

Your garden will warm up more during the day if it slopes toward the sun. Residual heat in plants and soil may determine whether your garden sustains frost damage during the night. Cold air, which is dense and heavy, will flow away from plants growing on a slope—what the experts call “drainage.”
A garden on a south-facing slope offers two advantages: more exposure to the Sun, and better drainage of cold air. In deep valleys, nighttime temperatures may be as much as 18°F lower than the temperature on the surrounding hills.
Avoid planting tender species in open, exposed areas or in low spots where cold air settles. Better to put them near a south or west-facing wall, which absorbs heat during the day and radiates it at night.

Use Nearby Structures as Heat Sinks and Natural Covers

Fences, boulders and shrubs can serve as protective function for nearby plantings.
Trees surrounding your garden can act like a blanket and reduce the amount of heat radiating from the soil, potentially keeping the temperature high enough to protect your plants from early fall frosts. Plants themselves can modify cooling, too. Place plants close together to create a canopy that entraps heat from the soil (though the tops can still suffer frost damage).
A garden positioned in front of a rock or brick wall benefits from the warmth absorbed by the wall during the day. At night, it will radiate heat slowly.
A body of water (if it is one acre or larger) will also act as a heat sink. Similarly, a cold frame can be heated with an improvised heat sink: a dozen 1-gallon jugs of water. They absorb heat during the day and radiate it at night.

Other Design Considerations

Raised beds will warm up more quickly than in-ground gardens, but may need some extra attention if plants (such as garlic) are left to overwinter.
Use good soil that’s full of organic matter retains moisture more easily, reducing the rate of evaporation. Mulch also helps to prevent evaporation.

Design your garden with the Almanac Garden Planner, which uses averaged frost data from nearly 5,000 weather stations across the U.S. and Canada. Try it out for free here!

Learn How to Predict Frost

When the sky seems very full of stars, expect frost.
–Weather lore

If it has been a glorious day, with a clear sky and low humidity, chances are that temperatures will drop enough at night to cause frost. Read more about how to predict a frost!

How to protect the garden from frost

Saving berry crops

Berry crops can suffer the most from the cold. They are closest to the ground, and there the temperature is always lower than at a height of 1-3 meters. At a temperature of minus 4, flowers and ovaries may die. If there is no wind, and the night is clear already 0 - minus 2 can be dangerous for plants.

Opened strawberry flowers die at a temperature of minus 1-1.5. Therefore, if there is a threat of frost, it must be covered in the evening with film, paper, burlap, matting, hay, straw. If you cover with a film, then it should not touch the flowers, otherwise there will be no benefit - they will freeze anyway. But if you lay a layer of straw or grass between them, it will be just right, you get such a warm blanket. nine0005

We remove the coating no earlier than 9 am. In lowlands, deep depressions, on the lower parts of the slope, in clearings in the forest, the danger of frost is greater, therefore, in such places, plants must be covered for several days in a row.

To protect currant and gooseberry bushes, wrap them with burlap, film or paper.

Plants grown in unheated film greenhouses (we talked about how to build them ourselves in the last issue) must also be covered from recurrent frosts. We save the planted seedlings of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini with paper caps, burlap or other opaque materials. nine0005

Let's also not forget that the plants should be watered abundantly in the evening.

Small-drop irrigation

But what about fruit trees, because their flowers and ovaries are also vulnerable to sudden frosts?

Unfortunately, such a universal coating that can protect an adult apple or pear tree has not yet been invented. Here another effective method is suitable - small-drop sprinkling.

To a person ignorant of horticultural matters, such a method may seem, to put it mildly, barbaric. Douse trees before frost?! No, no, he says, never! And it won't be right. Sprinkler frost protection is based on the fact that each drop of water, when frozen, gives off heat to the environment. If the trees are moistened so that there is always water on the surface of the leaves for freezing, the heat released by the droplets will be enough to compensate for the temperature changes in the environment. nine0005

How to do small drop irrigation? We install nozzles on the hoses with the smallest possible spray - and we begin the careful spraying of tree crowns. At the same time, we try to make sure that intense "rain" covers the surface of flowering or fading trees throughout the entire time of freezing. So we are getting ready for a sleepless night: the thermometer will drop to the lowest mark only at the end of the night. Oversleep - then you will reproach yourself.

Spraying must be completed one hour before sunrise, otherwise the plants will turn black and die when exposed to sunlight. nine0005

Sprinkling helps to protect flowers and ovaries from frost damage even at air temperatures down to minus 4-5 degrees. Remember that sprinkling should not be carried out in strong winds. Wind increases evaporation and, accordingly, increases the risk of frost damage to plants. If the wind is stronger than 5 m/s, it is better not to sprinkle. And one more thing: if leaves have not yet appeared on your plants, sprinkling against frost will not protect, but, on the contrary, will destroy the trees.

Installing smoke screens

Smoke curtains are an old and proven way to protect trees and shrubs from frost.

Heaps of wood shavings and chips, fallen leaves, peat are laid out between the trees and set on fire. From above we cover the fire with sawdust, grass, we put sod, earth on the flame. The main thing is more smoke.

If frosts are expected at night, then we lay out 6-9 smoke piles on the site and set them on fire a couple of hours after sunset. For greater effect, it is best to negotiate with the neighbors in the area - it is more useful for plants to "smoke" the company. nine0005

If, 30 minutes after sunrise, the temperature does not fall below minus 1. 5, we disassemble the piles (but not completely) and extinguish. They may come in handy this spring more than once.

Hilling up

In order to protect, for example, potato seedlings from the cold, they should be covered with a small layer of soil. This is a simple but also effective way to deal with frost.

Feeding plants before testing

Flowering plants are best strengthened from the inside by feeding them before frost. To do this, foliar top dressing should be done from a solution of potash and phosphorus mineral fertilizers (3-4% potassium sulfate and 4-5% superphosphate). Top dressing increases the concentration of cell sap, which increases the resistance of fruit plantations to freezing. Don't forget to spray the plants the night before or 2-3 hours before frost. nine0005

After drip irrigation, flowering fruit trees were covered with icicles. But it is not dangerous for them.

by the way

Late? Don't panic

If you haven't kept track of the weather and the plants are frozen, don't rush to pull everything out and throw it away. Thoroughly water the soil around and spray with one of the growth stimulants. Perhaps the plants will get sick and come to life - there have been such cases, and more than once.

little tricks

DIY

1. A threaded neck from a small plastic bottle (for shampoo, water) and a cork from it will help to secure the edges of the greenhouse's plastic cover. The jammed film is not damaged.

2. Rubber rings 20-30 mm wide, cut from a car tube, and rope extensions with such rings will not allow the plastic film of the greenhouse to sag. The same rings with extensions press the film from above.

3. When arranging a greenhouse, stretch a twine mesh with mesh sizes of approximately 50 by 50 mm over the frames, cover it with a film, and also stretch the mesh from above. You can fix the film and mesh with a rail and nails. nine0005

4. Two polyethylene strips laid crosswise on the bottom of the pot with seedling soil will help to extract the plant from the root without damage.

5. If you happen to have an old volleyball net, don't throw it away. When arranging a large greenhouse, stretch the mesh over its frame, cover it with a film, stretch the mesh from above and hang a suitable load below.

Do you have simple tips that can make it easier for other readers of "RG" - Weeks "household chores? Then write and do not forget, by the way, to attach a picture - a description of your rationalization proposal.

We are waiting for your letters to the address: 125993, Moscow, st. Pravdy, d. 24, "Rossiyskaya Gazeta", department of letters. On the envelope, do not forget to make a note "Little tricks."

Five ways to protect trees and seedlings from frost

Komsomolskaya Pravda

Dom. FamilyGarden and garden: useful tipsMy wonderful dacha: A healthy garden all year round

Anna KUKARTSEVA

May 8, 2015 1:35

The weather can be very unpredictable. And although folk signs say that when the birch blossoms, there will be no more frosts, this does not always happen. How to protect your landings from the cold

Apples, pears and other fruit trees can all "provoke" frosts. Low temperatures destroy pistils and stamens, ovaries and leaves of seedlings. But not only cherry. Apples, pears and other fruit trees can all "provoke" frosts. Low temperatures destroy pistils and stamens, ovaries and seedling leaves. And hence the future harvest.

It is clear that berry bushes are more susceptible to frosts, since the temperature near the soil surface is lower than at a distance of 2-3 meters from the ground. But at the same time, the delicate flowers of the apple tree are already damaged at a temperature of - 1.7 degrees. And gooseberries and currants can withstand up to -2 degrees. But the younger the bushes, the more sensitive they are to cold. nine0005

There are several ways to protect trees and seedlings from low temperatures.

1. Wrap.

Do not plant seedlings of tender crops such as peppers or tomatoes simply in normal soil, even in greenhouses. If there is no greenhouse (that is, pillows made of rotted manure, which, as it were, warms the greenhouse and plants from the inside), it is advisable to keep the seedlings at home until the frost has definitely passed.

If, nevertheless, it happened to plant seedlings of peppers and tomatoes in greenhouses, but not greenhouses, try to save them from frost with covering material and smoke bombs. Put thick wire arcs that will become a mini-frame for a 2-in-1 greenhouse. Throw covering material on these frames. Some use old coats, sweaters, rugs, but special material is better. nine0005

Inside, on both sides, place smoke bombs that will "beat" the frost, preventing it from destroying the roots, as well as the ovaries and tender leaves. If, despite all your measures, the pistils and tender upper leaves still turned black, agronomists advise throwing away spoiled seedlings without pity, because you still can’t get an early harvest from it. It will be easier to buy a new one than to nurse a frozen one.

2. Heating.

There is another way, conditionally called "Chinese", because it is often used by the Chinese, who grow vegetables and fruits in Russia. A hole is cut in the lid of an enameled bucket, into which a conditional pipe is inserted. It is brought out of the greenhouse, and 2-3 large pieces of coal are ignited in a bucket. Such a "stove" is able to heat a small greenhouse even at severe sub-zero temperatures. A small portable stove and even a barbecue will do, the main thing is to cover it from above and holes from the sides so that the coals do not get on the seedlings. nine0005

3. Shelter.

Shrubs can be covered with foil or the same covering material before frost. They also need to be thrown onto arcs installed around the bushes. If using cling film, make sure that there is no contact with the leaves, otherwise the morning dew can kill the delicate greens. Smoke bombs installed inside such domes will also help.

4. Bonfires.

Trees are saved with fires. This is perhaps the most time- and effort-consuming method. Firstly, they use raw firewood, wet straw, hay or tree branches that do not just burn, but smoke, smoke, so that the smoke spreads above the ground, protecting shrubs and trees. This is especially important for young trees, whose roots have not yet gone deep into the ground and which frost can easily kill. nine0005

Secondly, you need to make sure that the fires do not flare up, so that the smoke retains the desired density. To do this, I advise experienced gardeners to build a "smoke hut" - that is, put two or three large logs or stakes in a triangle, inside which firewood will burn, and pour wet grass, hay, straw, tops outside. In general, everything that is at hand.

Thirdly, the distance between the fire and the trees should be at least 4-5 meters (so as not to accidentally damage the roots). At the same time, the smoke should, as it were, wrap the whole garden with a blanket. Therefore, often gardeners do not sleep all night. nine0005

Still, this method is still not very effective if the air temperature is expected to be below minus 3 degrees.

5. Irrigation.

Fine watering can most effectively protect delicate shrubs from frost - moist soil cools less and transmits heat well. It is especially effective if the temperature does not fall below 3 degrees of frost.

On the eve of frost, it is necessary to water the ground abundantly, and precisely with finely dispersed sprinkling. This will provide the necessary evaporation, which will help protect the leaves and roots from frost. Very effective with smoke fires. nine0005

IMPORTANT

Harbingers of frost - dry, calm weather, a sharp drop in temperature in the evening. The pressure is rising, the sky is clearing, the stars are pouring out. There is complete silence in nature, even the nightingales and frogs stop singing.

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