Frost protection

[Permagrin]

I did a search and didn't find anything posted yet about plants getting frost burned or whatever you might wanna call it.

I planted my 2 plants outside on the 24th of march cuz it was in the 80's knowing good and well that it might still freeze on me, but the conditions outside were just so inviting and with the rain and all I just felt I had to take advantage of the beautiful weather we have been having and well now its supposed to freeze tonight so I've gotta figure out how to protect my babies. I won't be able to get off whatever I put on them right after the cold goes away so I have been trying to figure out what to put on them.

My best solution that I can think of is to put some loose hay all around and over them. I'll make sure to put it all around the sides so it don't break any leaves off. I was afraid to use a cloth or the like because of not being able to get it off right away the next morning. The hay should allow it to breath better than a plastic or something like that.

Has anyone used hay to protect their outside plants?

Its supposed to be freezing the next 5 nights or so, so i'ma have to leave it on there for a while.
Anyone know if this will harm the plants too much?

I'm hoping that by next monday itll be nice and warm again. I noticed that 2 days after planting them outside they had put on a lot of new growth.

Good growing all. :)

[gorilla]

Potted plants or in the ground?

Saw some people mentioning putting potted plants into a bucket of water, which will warm during the day and keep the roots warm at nights. Seen some products that do this too, to help protect tomatoes and whatnot.

Maybe even put some stakes up and put a thick tarp over them.. protect them from the immediate weather.

[buzzmobile]

Hay will work well to protect the plants from freeze and frost. The plants should be fine for the five days.
:D

[peakguy]

how tall are they? Hay or straw will work, or you could cloach them with a gallon plastic milk or water jug. Put it on during the night and take it off once it warms up in the morning. Good luck.

[sombro]

I've got the same problem, the weather isn't playing along.

The simplest and cheapest way i've found is to cut the top off of a drinks bottle and place it over the young plant, it will prevent frost. If you've got strong sun it'll be best to take them off in the morning. Mine are in big polythene bags on the nights that frost is possible. I forgot one night and in the morning the new leaf growth was purple but they survived.

a small tunnel style greenhouse would be the best thing, I guess.

what i want to know is wtf happened to spring and autumn??

[drumin]

Hay or straw will work fine. This is exactly the reason I haven't put my babies in the ground yet even though the weather is nice... I had a feeling winter wasn't quite done with us yet.

Good luck bro!

[swissmj]

as asked before are they in pots or in the ground? if they are still in pots then a raised bed can help to keep the temps in the pot a bit warmer.

and putting black buckets or barrels in and around your grow plot. fill them with water and they heat up in the day and during the night they release the heat around the plants.

sombro, the seasons have been doing some bloody bizare things in the last few years. our winter came 1 1/2 months late and in the last week the weather has changed from 25 celcius to -5 and snowing. i think its time to update the calender :eek:

cheers swissmj

[Permagrin]

They are planted directly in the ground, 1 is about 3 inches tall and bushy and the other is about 10 inches tall and not as bushy.

I just got done covering them with hay and now just gonna hope for the best.

[sombro]

last night was very cold and windy, a couple of the polythene bags I was using had blown against the plants and those looked a little sad.

as my children are only about 2-3in tall, any hay will be blown away. time to dig through the recycling. minus 3 predicted for tonight!!

i've got a couple of black buckets around the pots, cheers Swiss. i reckon that on nights where the temperature gets to around zero they really do help. Much lower of course and there's little they can do.

Hey Swiss, you wouldn't happen to be Swiss Tony would you?
http://www.jokefile.co.uk/rich/swisstony.html


happy easter

[peakguy]

Hope everybody is still looking green for you.