Frost protection..What's best method?

[plhkarma]

Farmers of cold sensitive fruit will usually simply mist their field/orchards with water and the resulting coating of ice insulates the fruits from the damaging effects of frost.

We had a heavy frost in Sept. a few years ago....a friend misted some of his plants and they ended up molding. We threw away more than we kept. So that method seems to have some drawbacks. Perhaps he misted too heavily?

Could you cover the ground around the plant with a thick layer of grass clippings?

 

[Grat3fulh3ad]

We had a heavy frost in Sept. a few years ago....a friend misted some of his plants and they ended up molding. We threw away more than we kept. So that method seems to have some drawbacks. Perhaps he misted too heavily?

Could you cover the ground around the plant with a thick layer of grass clippings?

long periods of light rain late in season do the same thing. I know people who shake the water from the buds during these conditions. keeps them from getting so heavy and breaking stems, too.

I'm not saying that icing over the bud would be ideal, i was just commenting based on what i've seen food farmers do. Ice might break lots of trichs a la the ice in bubble hash bags, as well.

 

[Time Bomb]

I'm not sure how up north you guys are but I'm in Canada @43N and I've let plants go into the last week of Oct. with quite a few frosts and the only problem I've had was I lost 1 branch off of 1 plant out of 100's grown. So I just let them go till there done, watch out for mold on the frosty nights with a really warm morning sun though it's IMO a perfect setting for mold to start. The plants really start slowing growth with the cold days and frosty nights though, like they really slow down but they are always better than premature buds.

If you want to keep them a little warmer I recommend just shoveling out the top few inches of your soil around the plant and use a "hot" compost mix like some straight horse shit or something then put some of the old soil back on top just to make it look like you were never there. As the manure composts it will heat up. A little greenhouse on top of that and I can grow into 1st week of Nov. but last few years a greenhouse was out of the question and they all grew just fine mid-late Oct.

 

[plhkarma]

My hubby built a frame for us to put a tarp over. We found a tarp that will blend in pretty good. Our girls are somewhat fragile cuz we did everything wrong when we planted(miracle we ended up with 7 out of 14). A light frost probably wouldn't hurt them. We have Fri.,Sat., and Sun., dipping down to 30 degrees.
A poster said they had used Freezepruf on some ornamentals and that it had worked for them. I guess it's too knew and that no one has tried it with Mary yet.

 

[ErnestHemingway]

im also from big10 country, plhkarma, and heres my two cents on the subject...
ive been concerned about frost in the past. covered them up, dealt with a light frost, etc.
but in all honesty, once it starts to get cold and the high for the day dosnt even hit 60, your plants dont really even grow. at all. buds dont fatten up, nothing. it almost isnt even worth it for me to try to avoid a frost...if they're not done by early october, they're not going to finish the way you want anyways.

 

[straintester]

My hubby built a frame for us to put a tarp over. We found a tarp that will blend in pretty good. Our girls are somewhat fragile cuz we did everything wrong when we planted(miracle we ended up with 7 out of 14). A light frost probably wouldn't hurt them. We have Fri.,Sat., and Sun., dipping down to 30 degrees.
A poster said they had used Freezepruf on some ornamentals and that it had worked for them. I guess it's too knew and that no one has tried it with Mary yet.

Hey GF
What a pretty site. I think you will be fine with that set up.
You also have nice side protection. I doubt you'll lose her to frost.
Nice job

 

[plhkarma]

Hey GF
What a pretty site. I think you will be fine with that set up.
You also have nice side protection. I doubt you'll lose her to frost.
Nice job

The site is at the back of our property...sadly there are train tracks that are on the other side of our creek(50'across the creek and on a hill) They do alot of switching etc...so our girls are becoming more and more visible as the foilage disappears. We're hoping the water in the creek will help deter the heavier frosts...still have a couple of weeks to go on some of the girls.
Hope all is well with you

 

[plhkarma]

im also from big10 country, plhkarma, and heres my two cents on the subject...
ive been concerned about frost in the past. covered them up, dealt with a light frost, etc.
but in all honesty, once it starts to get cold and the high for the day dosnt even hit 60, your plants dont really even grow. at all. buds dont fatten up, nothing. it almost isnt even worth it for me to try to avoid a frost...if they're not done by early october, they're not going to finish the way you want anyways.

Thanks for the info!
Luckily the temps are staying just above 60