Is this enough?

[creister]

I know this has been discussed before, but can't seem to find the info. We have a low of 31 forecast for tomorrow morning. I have my plants covered in row cover and then 1 mil. plastic. Is this enough protection? If I remember right it is, but want to hear what others think.


Thanks,

Curt

[dipchip2000]

It will be OK if you make sure to keep the wind out of the beds. Seal both sides and ends from wind.

ron

[creister]

It is sealed. There is some condensation collecting on the plastic (outer layer), but I don't think that will hurt. Must be getting warmer in there than I thought. It is only 53 today, partly sunny.

[bughunter99]

Originally Posted by creister

I know this has been discussed before, but can't seem to find the info. We have a low of 31 forecast for tomorrow morning. I have my plants covered in row cover and then 1 mil. plastic. Is this enough protection? If I remember right it is, but want to hear what others think.


Thanks,

Curt

To be on the safe side, I would stick a light bulb or a shop light under the row cover for the night. Or if you have strings of rope lights, those work OK too.


Stacy

[Doug9345]

It should be. The row cover hopefully will keep the plants from touching the leaves. I also like that you started way before dark as you'll e starting from a higher point. You'll have a problem if the temperatures drop a lot more than forecast.

[Worth1]

They say that it is to be 36 here tonight.
With their record this year you had better put those lights in.

Worth

[bower]

A few sealed buckets or bottles of water also do wonders to keep the temp near the plants above freezing. I have made 'hot water bottles' for the last minute action, but any bottles/buckets left during the day will take up heat from the sun for night time.

[creister]

Bower,

I just added several hot water bottles to protected plants. I had done that before, but on a much larger scale. I lined one gallon jugs around the base of my cold frame. This time, I just laid several water bottle (17 oz.) in there.

[creister]

Well, it wasn't enough. I had about 8 of the smaller seedlings survive and some of the others look like they may come back, but the majority look dead. Aggravating to say the least as it would have been very easy to carry them inside for the night. Live and learn. Never again if they aren't in the ground will I leave them out if the temps drop below 40. Second time I lost plants this way, although the first time it was only a few, this time it was many.

On the bright side, I will pick up some new to me varieties Homestead, Rutgers VF, Big Beef, and they had Cherokee Purple which I have grown several times and like. I may pick up one more. I also thought about a Marglobe. Haven't checked Lowe's, WalMart, or home depot and a few of the independent garden centers as well.

[bower]

Sorry to hear that. It's always a gamble with early frosts - the ground and everything around is still cold and has no extra bit of warmth to give up either.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by bower

Sorry to hear that. It's always a gamble with early frosts - the ground and everything around is still cold and has no extra bit of warmth to give up either.

Trouble is it was a (late) freeze or frost for us.

The weather down here is killing us.
I hope you guys up there have a better spring.

Worth

[MikeInCypress]

If it isn't the late freeze, it is the rain. Then this weekend the wind. I will probably take off Wednesday to get most of the plants in the ground or their containers. 3 weeks later than normal.

MikeInCypress

[bower]

Oops, that's what I meant to say, a late frost.
This winter has been so cold, the soil in my greenhouse containers froze solid as I've not seen before. All of the mass in my greenhouse, like the stone floor that warms slowly over summer, is stone cold and then some. It's going to take a lot of sunshine to bring that back to a 'spring' condition. Late one, I expect.

So the air temperature gets warm on a sunny day, but still it will get cold faster at night because there's not any amount of heat stored in the floor to moderate the temperature change. Same principle applies to the ground, outdoors, and wind is another factor for sure, to drop the temperature harder than expected.

I knew this frost was coming so I only put eight plants in the ground two days ago and then covered them with buckets last night. This morning, I had water frozen in some containers in my garden. I was expecting the worst when I removed the buckets, but I didn't have a single leaf damaged by the cold. I finished planting about thirty varieties today but I am ready with my buckets if necessary. The nice thing this year is most of my plants have bloom buds on them when planted so I feel like I am getting a head start to out race the arrival of hot weather.

Ted

[Doug9345]

I thought they where in the ground or otherwise I'd of said no way. The ground provides a lot of thermo mass and will cool much slower that plants in pots.