What's the most inexpensive way to protect from a freeze

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Stvrob

get up real early, before the frost starts. Make several very smoky fires, maybe even some used motor oil. Or piles of wet leaves. If it's a frosty night, smoke will linger near the ground and prevent UV radiation from being radiated toward the sky.

Not evironmentally sound, but that's what we did on the farm where I was raised. My father would have taken old tires and made piles of them when expecting a too early freeze, we got up at about 4 AM, went out and poured gasoline on them, and that heavy smoke was everywhere.

It's known that those smoke particles created what are called ice nuclei which raised the temp of the leaves.

Did it bother the neigbors? Probably, but originally there were no neighbors. My grandfather had bought 90 acres from the Shakers for 5K , sold half of that for 6K to someone else and paid off the mortgage, so we originally had 45 acres and my grandfather sold off building lots that created several roads. Many rich folks bought lots and one was purchased by Eleanor Roosevelt for her then bodyguard and she used to walk down to visit with my grandmother and gave some fuzzy toy animals to my brother and myself.

Ah, memories.

Carolyn, also remembering that our kitchen at the farm was originally a log cabin and the Shakers had built an addition to that and then built the main house in 1883 which we still called the new addition.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Not evironmentally sound, but that's what we did on the farm where I was raised. My father would have taken old tires and made piles of them when expecting a too early freeze, we got up at about 4 AM, went out and poured gasoline on them, and that heavy smoke was everywhere.

It's known that those smoke particles created what are called ice nuclei which raised the temp of the leaves.

Did it bother the neigbors? Probably, but originally there were no neighbors. My grandfather had bought 90 acres from the Shakers for 5K , sold half of that for 6K to someone else and paid off the mortgage, so we originally had 45 acres and my grandfather sold off building lots that created several roads. Many rich folks bought lots and one was purchased by Eleanor Roosevelt for her then bodyguard and she used to walk down to visit with my grandmother and gave some fuzzy toy animals to my brother and myself.

Ah, memories.

Carolyn, also remembering that our kitchen at the farm was originally a log cabin and the Shakers had built an addition to that and then built the main house in 1883 which we still called the new addition.

I was going to bring up the tire fire thing but I thing they would put you in jail these days.

I was asked by a farmer to burn his huge brush pile one time.
I had no idea it had about 20 tires in it.
The black smoke must have went 10,000 feet in the air and covered half the county.

Worth

[Blueaussi]

I save old bed sheets and blankets to use in the garden for frost and freeze protection. One blanket or two sheets keeps even a heavy frost off the leaves. Watch out for wind, it'll pull the covers off if they're not well anchored.

Freezes, well, they're tougher. I'd go with heavy mulching and cardboard boxes if there is no way to put up a temporary hoop house or cold frame with a light for a bit of heat. Once when we had a very late and hard freeze, I dragged an old swing set into the garden, and covered it with plastic with a few blankets on top to help hold the heat. I ran a drop cord out to the garden, and put the seed starting mats in between the rows of planted tomatoes and peppers. It worked, the plants were all fine.

[joseph]

For me, the most inexpensive way to protect tomatoes from a freeze is to not put them into the ground until warm weather has arrived.

Another inexpensive way to protect tomatoes from freezing is to grow varieties that have a demonstrated track record of being more resistant to cold or frost.

[Starlight]

Gregory... Your about 6 hours below me. If you have a Dollar General Store around you, call and ask them what days the delivery trucks come in. Give them a couple of days and call and ask, and they usually will let you get all the boxes you want from the outside racks. You have to tape them back together again, but they are free and those big tissue boxes would probably be big enough for your plants. Since the boxes are already broke down, they would be easy to transport and store for the "just in case" bad weather.

I don't know if you get the local channel three and 9 news , but both said yesterday that supposedly we are done with winter and the cold and the frosts after tonight. I hope so, but I sure wouldn't fully trust them.

We got unexpected bitter cold frost here last year too.

[Stvrob]

Originally Posted by joseph

For me, the most inexpensive way to protect tomatoes from a freeze is to not put them into the ground until warm weather has arrived.

Another inexpensive way to protect tomatoes from freezing is to grow varieties that have a demonstrated track record of being more resistant to cold or frost.

People in the South don't always have this option, if we wait too long waiting for warm weather there won't be enough growing days before the summer heat sets in.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Stvrob

People in the South don't always have this option, if we wait too long waiting for warm weather there won't be enough growing days before the summer heat sets in.

Warm weather arrives and goes away all winter long here.
If not for maybe 4 or so freezing days out of the winter I could start tomatoes in the ground in the fall.


Worth

[Blueaussi]

Originally Posted by joseph

For me, the most inexpensive way to protect tomatoes from a freeze is to not put them into the ground until warm weather .

Only, it's not just the front end of the season that has frosts and freezes. With a little luck and all those blankets and sheets, I can have fried green tomatoes for Thanksgiving and Christmas, not to mention all the peppers.

[Wi-sunflower]

The other frost protection method not mentioned so far is sprinklers.

IF your area doesn't have drainage problems or is already saturated, putting on the sprinklers when the temp gets down to about 35* will usually keep a frost away. You need to keep the sprinklers on til the ice that forms on the plants is melted off by the sprinklers or the morning sun.

You can even use those micro sprinklers that they sell at some stores for yard set-ups. You only need 0.1 inch / hour to frost protect. I figured it out a few years ago and that comes out to like 2 gallons / hour for a 15 ft spread. You are really only making a "mist".

It works. I've used it to save a late planting of zucchini and tomatoes that were close enough to our pond that we used the big aluminum irrigation lines on a couple of acres a couple of nites. It can get messy tho if you have to do it several nites in a row.

Carol

[Stvrob]

Originally Posted by Wi-sunflower

The other frost protection method not mentioned so far is sprinklers.

IF your area doesn't have drainage problems or is already saturated, putting on the sprinklers when the temp gets down to about 35* will usually keep a frost away. You need to keep the sprinklers on til the ice that forms on the plants is melted off by the sprinklers or the morning sun.

You can even use those micro sprinklers that they sell at some stores for yard set-ups. You only need 0.1 inch / hour to frost protect. I figured it out a few years ago and that comes out to like 2 gallons / hour for a 15 ft spread. You are really only making a "mist".

It works. I've used it to save a late planting of zucchini and tomatoes that were close enough to our pond that we used the big aluminum irrigation lines on a couple of acres a couple of nites. It can get messy tho if you have to do it several nites in a row.

Carol

When I first moved to Florida I destroyed a perfectly healthy Satsuma by sprinkling it overnight. As it turns out, it would have been fine even if it had got 10 degrees colder than it had.

[joseph]

Originally Posted by joseph

Another inexpensive way to protect tomatoes from freezing is to grow varieties that have a demonstrated track record of being more resistant to cold or frost.

I've been running frost tolerance tests on tomatoes this spring...

Here's a flat of tomatoes that demonstrates my method this year. I plant rows of many varieties side by side. Then I put the flat outside when cold or frosty weather is expected.

These tomatoes survived about a week of cold nights that were flirting with freezing air temperatures with strong radiant cooling on some nights. About 30% of the plants got culled from showing damage. Some varieties suffered a lot of damage, some almost none. Additionally, some varieties are growing vigorously, some are acting stunted. Then they survived being outside in a snow storm for 2 days. No additional plants were culled due to visible damage after the snow storm.

I'm not completely satisfied with this test yet, because while I have identified some varieties that do very poorly with frost/cold, and have eliminated individuals from most varieties that did poorly, I have still only managed 30% losses. In an ideal world I'd like to lose about 90% of the plants.

[Captain Neon]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I was going to bring up the tire fire thing but I thing they would put you in jail these days.

I was asked by a farmer to burn his huge brush pile one time.
I had no idea it had about 20 tires in it.
The black smoke must have went 10,000 feet in the air and covered half the county.

Worth

Yeah, I made a small fire in my backyard a few nights ago. I burnt a few old cardboard boxes. They were a little damp and made some smoke. The only neighbours that had smoke in their yard were away for weekend and smoke blew into empty field. Cops were still at my door claiming complaints about the smoke.

[Tracydr]

I've used boxes with good results. Much better than sheets IMO because they don't blow off as easily.
If you have cages, a sheet or blanket clipped to each also works, and row cover is nice since you could put it on now and leave it for awhile.

[pauldavid]

I save gallon milk jugs during the winter to protect my young plants if we get a late freeze. Cut the bottom off, put over plant into the dirt and instant mini greenhouse! You can uncap the lid in the morning for ventilation but I just uncover them. I have used 5 gallon buckets upside down for emergencies too.

[beefsteak]

Once I put my tomato plants out they get cages, so no boxes over them. I find the easiest thing for me, (I usually only plant 8 to 12 plants), is to watch the weather and check the temperature before I go to bed, if it's going to be 45 or below overnight and clear then I will get up before sunrise and check for frost. If there is a frost then I just grab a couple of watering cans, fill with water and wash the frost off the plants before the sun comes up, works every time. I have never lost a tomato plant to frost.