Frost protection

[jmsieglaff]

We are potentially dealing with the coldest temperatures we've seen this late in the season in at least 25 years this Friday night/early Saturday morning--concerns regarding frost and potentially even a freeze. This is quite concerning for me as my garden is fully in and the tomato plants have grown tremendously the last 2 weeks. In the past I have used frost blankets, regular blankets, towels, buckets, etc to protect from frost with mixed success. This time with plants being much larger and cages already installed, it will be more difficult. I suspect I'll try to wrap items around the cages. Does anyone have successful protection methods for a very late season low/mid 30s? Would the sprinkler method work for tomatoes or is that only good for blooms of fruiting bushes and trees?

[jmsieglaff]

Thoughts on those big food cling wrap rolls from food supply stores, wrap it around the cages and a piece over the top--has anyone tried that?

[Vanman]

We had a late frost last year and used blankets and sheets to cover the tomatoes and 4 inch pvc pipe sections about a foot long on small plants. Had just a little frost damage on a few plants but all survived.

[bjbebs]

I use cut down black culvert. Anywhere from 8" to 2' in diameter. Cut to what height you need. Always use at plant out and can stay in place for weeks. Cap it with a piece of card board and a brick for frost protection. This is the hard tile not flexible black tubing. Lasts forever but difficult to store unless you have space. Cut it with a saws all or for a ragged cut use a chain saw. Will fit inside most cages.

[bower]

Sprinkler - no!!! Worst thing you can do for tomatoes. Don't overwater before the event either. They tolerate cold much better when dry. MrBig46 has posted research on the subject, and I have seen it for myself with watered vs not-watered young plants in cups.

Cling wrap - no!!! When plastic touches the plant condensation forms and this freezes/causes damage. Much better to use cloth, frost blankets, etc.

Cages should be a plus - something to wrap your frost blanket around. Row cover if you have it, can also be layered for the extreme event, I use clothespins to pin that onto wire cages and works just fine.

Any sealable container, jugs or bottles of water (sealed) if you have something that will fit on the ground inside the cage, this will help.

When I have my plants in a row, I can put water bottles or even 5 gallon buckets inside and wrap the whole row as one. Make sure it goes right to the ground so there's no cold air blowing in the bottom.

[jmsieglaff]

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Thanks for the quick replies, please keep them coming. Good to know on the plastic front. Given the short timeframe I’m likely going to need to use what I have, luckily I have woven frost blankets I can use and plenty of old bath towels and some old blankets. One of the challenges is the plants have grown a lot well past seedling stage. It’s been such an amazing start to the tomatoes this year, I surely hope I don’t lose any. For reference plants are about this size.

[jmsieglaff]

One negative is will be getting a lot of rain and cold, now through Friday afternoon, then things look to clear out later in the night setting the stage for potentially harmful cold. So the plants and ground will be far from dry.

[jmsieglaff]

So I'm thinking if needed I'll clothespin towels, frost row covers, sheets, etc. around the stakes and cages. Any ideas of something to put above the plants in the cage to act as an overhead blanket and hopefully retain some warmth from the soil?

[MissS]

I'm just throwing bedsheets, towels and paint tarps over my stuff and securing them with clothes pins. I hope that I have enough and that it works.

[jmsieglaff]

Painting drop cloths! Thank you Patti! I’ve got a couple boxed away, out of sight out of mind, but I’ll definitely get those out. Act like a tree canopy resting on the cages—you know how on cold frosty nights there often isn’t frost under the tree canopy but just outside there is. Impersonate nature!

[brownrexx]

I am amazed that it is so cold there this late in May but when we had a Polar Vortex event last May 10 I had a similar problem. Temperatures dropped below freezing overnight but all of my tomatoes survived.

Your mulch should keep the ground from losing too much heat and I would put gallon jugs of warm water near the plants to radiate some heat.

Blankets over your cages should keep them warmer and although plastic should not touch the plants I would put plastic over the blankets to keep them from becoming saturated. Or put something like a piece of plywood on the top of the cage to keep the rain off.

Good Luck tonight.

[bower]

Plants are looking beautiful jm, and the mulch is awesome, that will help for sure. Good luck building the 'canopy'!

[Shule]

I'm with [mention]Bower[/mention] on the sprinkler method! I tried it once (end-of-season), and, wow. Big waste of water, and it coated the tomatoes in ice, despite having the water going the whole time. They died fast. Blankets and sheets worked much better. Don't leave the blankets and such on too long, though, or the plants get smothered (I recommend taking them off as soon as the risk of frost is over).

[mama_lor]

Nice big cardboard boxes are one of the best thing for this occasion. Depends if you have any around though, I usually do since I have to order pretty much everything online since everything except food is still closed.

[MissS]

38 degrees when I woke up this morning. It is very windy. It will be hard to keep the plants under cover tonight. [mention]jmsieglaff[/mention] wishing you good luck!

[bower]

Ah, the howling wind makes everything more difficult. Fingers crossed that all goes well for you, Patti!
We use big rocks here to hold down any row cover that can't be dug right into the ground.
I also have found in my own garden, a handy piece of 2X4 will often hold. Lighter board is at risk of getting tossed.
For anything held by clothespins, the best scenario is a tight fit. Loose ends are used by the wind to rip the whole thing off. Same goes for securing the bottoms as the edges. If there's nothing loose for the wind to tear away at, that's the best chance it will hold.
Will add that tucking under any heavy water containers is another way to secure, if you're using them.

[jmsieglaff]

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while we are still in a wind driven drizzle, this is phase one. Tinfoil “lids” above the leaves. When the drizzle stops, I’ll wrap bath towels around the cages and secure with clothespins. The space between foil and plant I may fill with crumpled newspapers for extra insulation. Finally around each cage or group of cages will go blankets or drop cloths, old drapes, etc. I hope it’s all for not but clearing skies after dark and only being 41 right now and diminishing winds late tonight is a bad enough omen! I’ll report back tomorrow. Maybe get some pics when it’s all wrapped up too.

[jmsieglaff]

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Buckets are easy. No vacancy in the kitchen.

[MissS]

Well your plants are certainly gorgeous! I bet that they will be happy to have a home cooked meal with you tonight.

Right now they are forecasting a low of 37 for the night. So we just might miss having frost. I sure hope so. I have a driveway filled with flowers. I can bring a lot of them into the garage. Things already planted in planters will be getting covered as best as I can and I'll just hope for the best. Hopefully this rain will end so that I can use towels. If it's raining, then they will just get too heavy for the plants.

[jmsieglaff]

I know this drizzle/rain is really making preparations difficult and I'm waiting until the last minute because of it! Hopefully your proximity to the lake helps keep you a couple degrees warmer. 32-34 is looking fairly likely here. Good luck too Patti!