Now, that's depressing.

Thanks for the heads up. I was going to move my lettuce out today.

Just an update.

Everything still on track. Models spitting out low 30's and even upper 20's next weekend for LaCrosse. Milwaukee mentioned the S word (flakes). Looks like Sunday morning is going to be the one to watch.

Thanks. My garden is so far along that I won't be able to cover much.

Looking UGLY with temps showing upper 20's both Sat and Sun morning... My guess is most areas of the state should at least see frost, with plenty of areas seeing a freeze.

Winds do look on the light side, so get those blankets handy.

Well, I just checked out the weather channel website for the Milwaukee area and they say upper 30's for Friday and Saturday nites. No mention of snow, but possible rain showers. I remember several years back we had snow that stuck to the ground on Mother's Day, so it's not unheard of. I don't have any veggies or annuals in the ground yet, so I'll probably bring the flats inside.

Kat

Milwaukee should be on the safer side of things, but areas of central/west/north WI are going to get slammed, most likely. Models were the coldest yet the last 2 runs.

New model run drops it to 26F in La Crosse. Very very very bad. Huge apple growing region around here. Probably lose a significant portion of the crop.

Blankets are definitely in order this weekend to cover beets, lettuce, onion, kohlrabi, & Swiss chard, with upturned cardboard boxes, pots, and old drapes. I think peas are OK.

In the past month I have gotten up several times at the crack of dawn to spray my four blooming fruit trees - pear, apricot, peach, & nectarine. I spray with water to dissipate the frost before the sun strikes them. I spray a bit, then walk around my yard and sip my coffee, then spray some more. I stay out for about 1 1/4 hours until the frost on my black roof goes away due to the sun hitting it. I did that last year and had a successful fruit harvest of all four trees.

While I am at it I'll spray the Nikko Blue, and Endless Summer Hydrangea and blueberry bushes too. Where do you stop? How hardy are red currents?

I will set my alarm this weekend and spray the fruit trees again. They are done blooming now, but have very tiny fruit on them. It can't hurt to spray them with water.

maj-

Good plan. I'll be out there with you. This looks brutal, may need more water! Newest run just came out. Looks the worse yet for my parts. Drops to 26F for a few hours, then Monday it drops us to around 30F again. I have 6 tarps, and 10 blankets, with more coming tomorrow. I'll drape the whole yard. I have a greenhouse and a lot of potted plants that will be fine (in the garage). The shorter nights help.

Now i know why i want to move most fruit into containers and other crops into high tunnels!

We're suppose to get rain and snow showers along with the frost.

Still looks like a frost/freeze for large areas. Snow is on the way. Even La Crosse will get snow, but accumulation may be a problem in the river valley. I'm guessing the bluff tops may be covered with an inch.

I have apricots and pears set and my apples are blooming. Could I just throw sprinklers under the trees to combat the frost?

Years ago with an expected freeze coming, I set a sprinkler in my pear tree to run all night long. The following morning pear blossoms, leaves and bark were all covered with a layer of ice, which must have protected the blossoms, because that year produced a heavy pear crop.

It was lucky that the ice wasn't heavy enough to break the branches.

Tonight they predict rain changing to snow, 2-4 inches, and temps ranging from 32-38, then lows of 31 degrees Sunday AM and 34 Monday AM.

I guess I will need to prop up any blankets with low fencing to keep the heavy weight of snowy, soggy blankets off the tiny seedlings in the vegetable garden. Cardboard boxes would collapse.

If there is snow, perhaps it will blanket tiny fruit in the trees. Maybe that would be a good thing? I am undecided.

Hard to say. I would think a few inches of snow would protect seedlings, but not sure about trees. Throw in wind too... That should pick up tomorrow once this low gets east of here and starts pulling down drier/colder air (yippee!).

I'm covering Sat night once the winds settle down. I've got a lot of blankets since i have a ton of stuff to protect. I bought some tarps, but those need to not touch the plants, so i'll probably be out at 2am putting those up.

Probably build a big fire in the yard, grab a bottle of wine and sleep under the stars with my hose :)

My pear tree set a horrible crop this year. Must be pollination issues.

This isn't it either, there is more cold air next week (lots of 30's), but not much chance of a freeze. Very crappy weather pattern for the next 7-10 days. Looks wet.

I just finished laying wire tomato cages down on their side among the seedlings, which are planted in patches not rows. Over the wire I spread out tarps and weighed down the corners with bricks. I may put blankets over the tarps for good measure if the wind ever dies down.

I also emptied out the cold-frame/greenhouses I had cobbled together with old storm windows and a picnic table and plastic. I carried eight flats of various seedlings into the garage for the night. That was easier than covering the two "cold-frames"

Still not sure what to do with the fruit trees in the morning. My only choice is spray or not spray with water.

That big bonfire and large bottle of wine sounds like a fine idea.

franktank232 - You are right, now the weather men are calling for 30 degrees Saturday night here. What "model" do you get your information from? It is more accurate than the TV and internet sources that I have been watching.

Its basically the raw data spit out by the GFS (American weather model) and is most likely what your local wx guys are looking at, which you can view here for Green Bay.

http://wxweb.meteostar.com/sample/sample.shtml?text=kgrb

I think it has done very well here (sometimes a little cold, which would be good in this case). Still wants to drop La Crosse to 26F, so that is probably the Minimum we would see. This rain may help some keep those temps up a little.

Whatever the case, a stretch of cold weather is stuck with us until at least next weekend.

I live in northeastern IL, and I have petunias, coleus and rex begonias planted, as well as lantana, and perhaps a couple tender perennials I will have to cover for tonight. Going to flip over some pots and put them over these plants. I'm actually going to do that now since I won't be back till late. How does watering the plants and ice help protect the plants exactly?

Freezing water is an exothermic (heat releasing) action. The warmer water looses it's heat as it freezes to the fruit, leaves whatever it is freezing on. It is important to do this only when the next day is going to be warm enough to melt the ice, otherwise the ice continues to get colder along with the fruit it is supposed to protect, and all is lost. Like maj742 said, he does it late in the freeze period and stops just as the frost / freeze cycle is ending. Good luck everyone, what looked like an early spring is turning into a nasty last bit of winter!!

Steve