This is the first time in three years, that we needed to cover early emerging plants due to a late frost. Although we are still almost two weeks behind a typical spring, enough plants had emerged, combined with a predicted drop to 26 degrees F in late March, that we felt that covering was warranted. This is a large task, involving over 150 labor hours. Fortunately, our temperatures never dropped below 30.4 F.
We cover the plants with spunbond polyester fabric, which fortunately, is still fashionable in garden settings. The thickness of the covering (.5 oz to 4 oz) determines the degrees of protection from cold temperatures. The thin fabric may only protect to a single degree F, while the thicker fabrics can provide up to 8-10 degrees of protection. Ideally, the frost blanket would not touch the foliage, or you can expect to get foliage burn. Consequently, we use short bamboo stakes to created an air pocket under the cover.
Very interesting. I use bamboo stakes too.
It’s like a top sheet vs an Ikea duvet.
Where I live people all around have this same look going on throughout the year. Although here the coverings are often blue…
The only blue coverings we have seen are tarps, used to cover boats, or houses with water damage. They don’t really provide much in the way of frost protection for plants.
Yes, those are the types of uses for blue tarps I see here also (I was making a joke).
Understood…yes, sadly some folks still have to use these after disasters, etc.
Are you staking the poly to the ground or weighting down for the wind? Do your frostproofing efforts depend on the level of wind? My understanding is that wind can be frost protective to a degree, but it is also very good at blowing off coverings. I am hoping there is some kind of inflection point you might know of with wind speed, radiation freezes, and advection freezes to save us the hassle of frostproofing when we are on the cusp of cold
Great question. Yes, we use heavy duty landscape ground staples to keep the frost cloth from moving. Yes, wind keeps the temperatures from dropping quite as low, but isn’t exactly a protection mechanism. There are many factors that go into whether a plant is damaged, that it’s really hard to quantify them.