Too close for comfort. Cover them up with an old sheet. We had MAJOR frost last night here, in spite of the forecast being cold, but not freezing. Better safe than sorry.

Why not just move them closer to the house and put a sheet over them. They can take the cooler weather but not freezing.

Can you put them in the garage for the night? 37 won't kill it but would probably cause the buds to drop and some foliage damage. Good luck.
Karyn

I was hoping there would be no damage at all, especially blossom drop

This planting is far to massive and heavy that I have to leave it where it is. I think I will put a sprinkler on an 8 ft ladder and leave it on most of the night, this way my whole garden will be safe.


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Oxmyx, having just gone through that (and 5 minutes ago - took them out again.) Jimm-Jeep gave me an idea. He was using garbage bags. . . .but. . .don't see why this wouldn't work.

Xmas lights, and a sheet. small heat, low level, won't hurt, and the sheet will hold enough in to ward off anything damaging at this level. If you've got garbage bags, tear them apart under the sheet. The sheet will protect low level but not encourage moisture to freeze, but up above, retain the "heat" so it's not lost.

Good luck, I wish you the best.

Dweeb

That's beautiful plant. Good luck with it and I hope you're able to keep all those buds happy. Dweeb's idea with the lights and the sheet is a good one. I'd make a tent with some stakes for the sheet also to keep it from weighing on the plant too much. Looks like that'd be a tough one to move, but if you're able to at all, garaging it would probably be best.

I would recommend gently tipping it over on its side, propping the upper part off the ground gently where the Y's are( to help keep the weight of the foliage off the buds while on its side) and then cover with something other than plastic as plastic has no cold/heat protective properties.(even newspaper would give you better protection than plastic) The black pavement should have enough heat retention from the day to ward off any frost at the ground level, the covering will keep any low temps from affecting the foliage and buds.

The only thing garbage bags are good for is warding off dampness, not cold and its the cold that you are trying to avoid here.

TWO GREAT IDEAS

Christmas lights and a tent to keep in the heat,

and using the warmth of the asphalt to protect it, never would have thought of that! Very sound reasoning Ruth Ann. I am sure this is a good idea, but I hesitate tipping that monster.

Oxmyx: You can tip the girl. Just tipped mine big time. Just make sure the prop is lower toward the base, (or on the base), like a cinder block or rock, ok? Not to damage the top, and the weight of the pot isn't laying on the stem.

The plastic is only to hold down the heat from escaping. At these temeratures, there shouldn't be a danger of any moisture inside the plastic causing additional damage by freezing. (Too much heat, wet on the underside of the plastic, that would freeze and do more damage.) When it gets THAT cold, like the grape growers in Cal, you want BREATHING, like a sheet, not occlusion, like visquine. Ok? Make sense?

The sheet would just be to protest the lower parts should you get a "frigid gust" that would harm your plant. That's all.

I don't think it will be a problem. A low of 37 means that most of the night it will still be around 40, then in the very early morning the temps will dip so that 37 should be short-lived.

If it will be sunny and warmer during the day you should be alright.

If the day will be cold, and wet...then you might run into some problems.

I use the sprinkler system for a short cure. It will give your plants 60+ degrees. Never worry about that big stuff here. But thinking on it a king size mattress plastic cover or one made out of 6 mil plastic and either duct tape or a propane torch to make seams and a sixty-100 watt bulb will allow it you to extend the season. I use the small Christmas lights and clear plastic bags for extended periods. Costs virtually no money and will not burn plants or overheat. They also look cool and eerie to look out on a cold night and see the humidity in the inside and all the pretty lights.

The stuff I use for mites anti stress 2000 is really designed for orchard use to prevent freeze damage. I do not know but it works good on mites. It has to be a lot cheaper than running the water on a city system for two nights. It is being tested by quite a few people. I will post results as they are verified.

jim

LOL - imagining this erie plant look - just too funny Jim.

Hey - Oxmyx - how'd she do? Happy and ok?

Brug is fine, next few days tells me if the cool did any damage. I bet Ruth Ann can tell me about Brug temperature toleration. :)

I decided to go with the overhead watering all night, besides the garden needed a good soaking.

I can tell you they will not tolerate any extended period of frost or below freezing temperatures. They will drop their leaves and buds and their bark will slough off in about 2 weeks time so don't push your luck folks.

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Your roots will remain fine as long as they do not get frozen though.

I covered mine with old sheets, but the frost still got some extremities ( even under the sheet). I was surprised that the frost would go right through the sheet and freeze the section which was touching it. I've not seen that before so early in the year.

I had to do some major trimming back yesterday. Hopefully that is all I will have to do.