I had planted in ground eight varieties about ten days ago. The temps had been in the 80's during the day 50's at night. That is until yesterday and last night. The temps fell all day yesterday from 66 in the morning down to 31 this morning. I had covered the trees with sheets as you can see. Some of them I placed stakes around and was able to keep the sheet from touching the leaves. Where the sheet touched the leaf and the frost was able to penetrate to the leaf there was damage. The trees that the sheet did not touch the leaves there was no damage. Sals EL has the most damage along with Malta Black. Tacoma Violet, LSU Scotts Black, and Kathleens Black had a little damage. Nero 600M, Alma and Lyndhurst White had no damage. The only one I am concerned about losing is the Sals EL. We have a forecast of mid thirties and patchy frost again tonight.

Mike,

If the sun is out, lift up the drapes so it will warm the soil, then drop them again as it starts to cool off. The soil will give up the heat and slightly warm the air around the trees. I do not think you will loose any trees. The leaves may fall off, but there should be enough stored energy in the wood/roots for more leaves.

thanks mike. i needed your results. do you think a winter long canvas tent would work? i'm looking  for something easier than wrapping each tree for winter, but i'll still use the sheets for spring emergencies.

Mike,

Here in the North they always advice you to water your potted or freshly planted plants when a frost is expected. I don't know the science to it but I listen to the experts.

Nonetheless,
Your plants will be fine. Looks more like wind burn than anything else.

Good luck

Edit: cover the sheets with a tarp if you can to block the wind.

They do look unhappy.


Wet soil holds more heat than dry.  

It was 48 here this morning, unheard of for central Florida in April

James, the sun is out and its in the mid 50's and the sheets are all off now. Probably back on tonight. I also may be able to help
you with Macool if mine does well this summer.

Rafed, we had 1.25 inches of rain just before the cold air got here so that should have taken care of that. I think all of them
will be fine. The Sals may lose most of its leaves.

Susie, I don't think a canvas tent would work for me because of the number in ground and spacing. Also, I don't know your
complete situation including your winter weather.

Mike,

Not much you can do about frost except what you have done. Looks like you will recover just fine! Always nice to see pine straw mulch ...not big elsewhere!  :-)

Joe

@Martin, I think they will be except maybe for Sals. I will have to wait and see about it but thanks for
your positive comments. Maybe the plants will hear you and give them inspiration. LOL

Mike,

I had not set any figs out this spring yet, and the prior in ground were already dead at least to ground.  I did yank 3 Kaki persimmon and 5 Mulberry that I set out this spring and threw them back in pots and inside. I am glad I did as lots of young foilage damaged last night on other persimmon, Mulberry Kiwi, and probably lots of other things as far as the blooms. My blueberry were covered in bloom the blooms look sorry this am, the foilage is ok. What temp is fatal to Blueberry blooms? I think I was around the 27F forecast. Most my potted figs got moved in, but some I laid down and tarped, where it touched the tarp damaged.

@strudeldog, sorry to hear that. Looks like we are learning from our mistakes. If all eight of these make it I want be disappointed. It was a trial
deal anyway to see.

Thanks Mike.  If your Sal's has a permanent set back, I am rooting some now and should have a back-up for you.

Really not that bad, as a year of fruit is not hurtful as losing actual plants. Even the foliage damage should re-leaf back out. I am starting to be a little less high on Kaki as this is beginning to be almost the norm for me. Having them do fine in single digits in full winter dormancy only to take damage in the high 20s in spring.

what james said, along with little bit of watering and spraying the tree with water. the idea is for the water to hold heat in the ground, and the water on the leaves to freeze before the cells in the leaves... been reading on this thinking i'll keep my trees out last night. decided to pull them all in at the last moment.

James, thanks for the offer. I will update this thread when I see what the end result for Sals is.

Mike,
I hope it all turns out well. I bet it will. I sure hope this is the worst of it.

Good luck!

Very little frost damage from where I'm at, 40 miles from strudeldog to the north and more than that to newnandog to the southwest.  Only thing that looks to actually take frost damage was some neighbors who had hibiscus plants in pots out.  Another neighbor had it in the ground, and it seemed unaffected as well.  Couldn't have been more than a degree or two, and for a short time.  No impact on growing lemon, pomegranate tips.  The yard is a fairly warm microclimate, though.  Petite Negri is much less hardy than Brown Turkey, but I'm only talking about relatively severe damage...not even close to being killed to the ground.  I will say that this is probably the hardest winter it has ever had, though.

Kakis are known to be very vulnerable to spring frosts.

@shah8, its interesting how different the weather can be here in Newnan as opposed to inside the Perimeter, and even sometimes
to the North of Atlanta. The cold air oozes down south of Atlanta and pools up in places like Peachtree City, Newnan and Lagrange. It
can be several degrees colder in these places than say Gainesville, Cumming and even Roswell.

Strudeldog:  Blueberries are pretty cold hardy.  I have 4 varieties which I did not cover for this cold snap. I have 2 northern varieties and Tifton and Climax for my southern varieties. Most of my berries are in full bloom with a few plants showing more fruit than blossoms at this point.  Checked this morning and all are doing fine. We are expecting frost again tonight.  Think as long as the temp stays right around 30 degrees for just a few hours at night your blossoms should be fine.

Rafed,
It sounds odd but freezing water actually gives off some heat, and if your plants have a thin layer ice covering them it acts as an insulator. 

Good luck!  Philly went to 31 last night and our bird bath froze; tonight it is supposed to dip into the 20s.  All the magnolias were brown this morning :<(

During the winter of 2012-13, I had cold damage on my trees (most of them near 100%), and there were fig trees closer than 30 linear miles away still with leaves.

Hi newandwag,
I would water the tree and water/wash the trunk and the leaves with water.
Don't you have a 200Liters empty water barrel ? Put it simply over the trees and leaves it until the sun comes out.
The sun will heat the air inside the barrel and help the tree recover faster.
If the tree is higher, put 4 stakes and the barrel over the stakes.
It is the principle of the hat on our heads :) . an 80 liters dark trashcan with the bottom left put on them would work as well ... I wonder how I know that ?
Or a plastic bag would work as well . Put it in the evening and remove around 10 in the morning .
I have a plant that I put outside of the greenhouse, and it is protected with 4 stakes and the clear plastic bag over them.
For now the plant continues with full blossom ... It told it: I, now, want Fruits !?! Where are those damn pollinators ?!?

Alas, the Atlanta heat bubble didn't protect our property much this time around. I'm really glad my young in-ground tree hadn't started leafing out yet! I just got finished moving everything back outside, after rushing most of my plants into the basement again two days ago. A number of plants I just pushed against the house, into the carport, or huddled between and under the bushes we have along our foundation. The tomatoes and eggplants got covered with sheets. I left out my two pomegranates, but they were looking pretty weepy yesterday, so into the basement they went, too. Looking much happier today, though!

I have a Russian Pomm. No protection and it looks great. I put inverted buckets over my new in-ground Vdb and hyb0023. Only a tiny amount of damage to one or two leaves.