How to Protect Fruit Trees From a Late Freeze
Spring can be a very unpredictable time of the year as far as weather is concerned. One spring day might bring temperatures warm enough for you to wear shorts, while the next might bring a spring frost. Fruit trees bloom in the spring, but an unexpected frost can stunt their production. With a few precautionary measures, your fruit trees will be producing delicious fruit even if a late spring freeze comes their way. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Plastic tarp
- Bungee cords/zip ties
- 3 to 4 plastic gallon-sized jugs
- Cinder blocks/stones
- Tent stakes
Instructions
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Place a tarp over the fruit tree, making sure that it extends all the way to the ground. Center the tarp so that it is touching the ground on all sides. If the tarp is not large enough to cover the fruit tree and extend to the ground, you can attach two tarps together with zip ties or bungee cords through the tarp's eyelets. Secure the tarp to the ground around the fruit tree with something heavy like cinder blocks or large rocks. You can also use tent stakes to secure the tarp to the ground.
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Soak the ground around the fruit trees during the warmest part of the day just before a predicted freeze. The water will evaporate under the tarp during the night and will help to keep the fruit trees from freezing.
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Fill three or four gallon-sized plastic jugs with hot water almost to the top of each container. Do not cap the jugs. Place them around the base of each fruit tree under the tarp.
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Tips & Warnings
Christmas lights strung through the fruit tree's limbs can also help to protect it from frost.
Set the containers of water around the tree during the day before a frost. This will allow the water temperature to rise so that it will give off heat during the night.
Use ladders or some other tall structure under the tarp to keep it from damaging the limbs of your fruit tree. The tarp will rest against the ladders on each side of the tree instead of against the limbs.
You can place a sprinkler under the tarp and let it run during the night of a freeze to provide water. The running water from the sprinkler will not freeze.
