Frost!

[womble]

Well that took me a bit by suprise. A -3c frost last night.

Q. Should you spray fruit, ie strawberries, pears, plums, apples with water in the morning to try to prevent frost damage to the flowers/fruitlets?

And is it still good practice to spray potato leaves and other veg with water for the same reason?

[Newton]

Ouch. 5degrees here at the moment. Hope you did not suffer any damage. Lots of tender veg planted on the lottie by very experienced folk. Fingers crossed all is well.

[chris]

Was very cold here last night too - my greenhouse went down to 5C - no idea what it was outside. But the wind has battered ALL my currants, berries and salad. Glad I moved my trees and blueberries now!

Be interested to know the answer too, as I think it is the thawing process that damages the cells.

[Bramble_killer]

ouch , we got cold but only 5.5C last night. Good luck

[Florence Fennel]

It was 4 degrees here at 6.30 this morning. Luckily most of my tender plants are still indoors.

[Florence Fennel]

Never heard of that before Womble, hope someone comes along to clarify.

[Two_Sheds]

Q. Should you spray fruit, ...with water in the morning to try to prevent frost damage

The spraying needs to occur before the frost, not after, sadly
Why Spray Water on Plants During a Frost | eHow.com

[Nicos]

I've not heard of that either!!!

I have heard of spraying them with water - and the soil- the night before,but I've no idea if it works.

[Nicos]

That was interesting 2sheds!

[womble]

Oh well, I gave it a go on the strawberries anyway, as I didn't fleece them, I fleeced the potatoes, but only with one sheet as I wasn't expecting it to get that cold. The fleece froze to the halms

The GH got down to 0c, even with one terracotta pot and candle heater burning.

[womble]

It promises to be even colder tonight, I'm thinking -5c now.

[Bren In Pots]

My greenhouse went down to 3.5c overnight not sure how much protection it gives plants covering the with fleece but my toms 'seem' fine this morning.

[womble]

So you are supposed to spray potato haulms aren't you, before the sun gets to them, after a frost, I'm sure I've read that loads of places, although I've never tried it.

Bren, my toms in the GH seem fine as well. I have two outside and they were just covered up with buckets and they seem fine also. Tonight the toms in the GH get buckets, fleece and a couple of candles/pot heaters.

[chris]

That's what I thought womble.. to help to defrost the leaves, etc - so the sun doesn't rapidly melt the ice, which can cause the cells to rupture?

If they defrost slowly, there's less chance of it.

(or something similar ).

[Shadylane]

Metcheck is threatening temps of -3 tonight, but the Met office, BBC and AccuWeather are more reassuring at around 3. I may cover the strawbs on the plot and earth up the spuds(only just poking through anyway) but nowt I can do about the plum tree - it's too big. I will be well annoyed if they get frosted again.