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| Tarps and blankets covering espaliers will protect to 28 degrees if you're lucky. |
Good luck to everyone. I'm hopeful I can still have a harvest this year.
Articles and resources on espaliers and backyard fruit production.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Protecting Espaliers from Frost
Another great benefit of espaliers is the ease of protecting them from late frosts. Frost is threatening my home town tonight. I found some tarps and sheets and clipped them to the wire support system to provide some protection against frost. It's doubtful that these passive measures will be effective under 28 degrees but the forecast is for 30 degrees tonight. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
The micro-climate here with the cement driveway close by might be enough to protect these blossoms if there is no wind but I didn't want to chance it. If you're lucky enough to have your espaliers planted against a rock or brick wall, you've got excellent protection if you can use a tarp to cover the tree and include the wall allowing the radiant heat to be trapped by the tarp.
Good luck to everyone. I'm hopeful I can still have a harvest this year.
Good luck to everyone. I'm hopeful I can still have a harvest this year.
Didn't cover my garlic, I'm expecting it'll be hardy enough to handle it. What I feel for are all my Crawford County people with thousands and thousands of non-espalier apple trees to worry about.
ReplyDeleteI'm very concerned for the fruit growers as well. This week could wipe out the entire harvest. A farm without crop insurance could easily fail with an entire year without income. Hopefully at least some blossoms will survive.
ReplyDelete