Frost Damage

[becky2812]

OK, well I've had a really busy couple of days, and didn't check on here or on weather forecast and nipped to the allotment this morning to put stuff in the compost bin.

It looks like we defintely had a frost last night and i now have 2 problems:

All of my potato plants that were poking through, are looking really dark and mushy - will these grow back?? should i write them off?

I have a bed of braod beans, some of the plants in it are bigger than others. The smaller plants with no flowers yet are fine. The larger ones with flowers look to have been affected. They seem to have wilted over at the top, the leaves are closed up and the flowers are dead. Are these a write off too??

I could have cried this morning
Thanks
Becky

[spectrawax8]

I've had damage to potatoes, tomatoes, courgettes, squash etc - here in a Norfolk frost valley. Dont worry about your spuds and broad beans - they'll recover - just meANS YOU'LL PROBABLY HARVEST ALITTLE LATER.

[Nicos]

The spuds will be fine.
The frosted leaves will die off- and then you'll see new leaves coming through in a week or so....this is exactly what happened to mine last JUNE!!!!
This is why it's a good idea to earth up potato leaves as they appear until all signs of frost are gone ( end May for 'most' peeps in the UK).

Broad beans...well , I'm no expert with those , but I understand they're tough little things.

I think they'll just be knocked back a bit like the spuds.

[gojiberry]

Broad beans should have not been affected by the frost and the dead flowers should have the start of a small bean inside. Providing of course that the bees have been busy.
Potatoes will depend on how much you have earthed them up and how bad the frost was. If you have already earthed them up then they should reshoot from underground and all will not be lost. Unfortunately you will have to wait and see over the next few weeks, but don't give upon them yet. The crop will unfortunately will have been set back by a good few weeks.

Ian

[Suky]

Broad beans overwinter quite happily so they should pick up quite quickly.

[becky2812]

Thanks for all the replies,

The potatoes had only just popped through really, maybe 3 inches, so i hadn't earthed them up yet. if i cover them over now will that be ok? or will the damaged bits just rot??

[Nicos]

the damaged bits will just rot.
No harm in earthing them up a bit more though

[becky2812]

Thanks Nicos, Will try to get there to do that tonight. This time of year is so busy for me that i'm sure i'll have lots more disasters through lack of time to get to the allotment

[Kristen]

I earth mine up when frost is forecast. My reckoning is that if you earth them up they will keep pushing up until they get daylight, and then their growth will be more "compact" because they have light.

So if I earth up fully they will be sticking out sooner than if I waited and earthed up only when frost was forecast.

Plenty of people earth up fully when they plant them, so its personal choice really, and I may be completely deluding myself that the way I do it makes any difference what-so-ever!

I ought to do half-a-row and half-a-row and compare the two ...

[Jamesy_uk]

Well my stuff at home seems relatively unscathed but we only hit around 4.c last night, however the stuff at my parents garden is apparently looking a bit wilted and they went down to 3.c. Will go over tomorrow and assess the damage but all I can say is thank god that Siberian front has moved off now and we are expecting 8'c plus a night for the next few days.

[Snadger]

Two grapevines have stood outside all winter and were just starting to leaf up nicely...........leaves are now brown and crinkly. I think they should recover though!

[Shadylane]

Well, once again I am a mixture of fuming and frustrated and fed up. All at home is well but on our extremely exposed plot, the plums once again are knackered, goosegogs shrivelled and falling off, cherries done for, strawb flowers blackened and the broadies look appalling. They're supposed to be hardier too (Aquadulce). Falling over, practically lying down, blackened flowers and ravaged by bean weevil. I'm not growing that variety ever again. Our neighbours look fine. Anyone recommend me a variety for growing oop north? Our neighbours are Bunyards Exhibition or summat.

Next year and I'm covering all the strawbs not just a third and I'm wrapping fleece round every sodding branch of our inherited and too large plum tree. Even if it takes ALL Sodding Day. Arrrrgg. Hate this chuffing climate sometimes. Sorry for the rage but I needed to vent

[Two_Sheds]

the broadies look appalling. They're supposed to be hardier too (Aquadulce). Falling over, practically lying down, blackened flowers

The broadies will pick up again. The soft new lush growth may be blackened, but they will recover

My Aquedulce have been outside since November, they've sat through snow & weeks of frost, and now 8 weeks of drought

[Shadylane]

Thanks, that's reassuring. Yes what is with this drought? I can't remember when we had such gorgeous weather for such a long time - it's' been lovely but I'd really like some rain now please

[Poddington Pea]

On the subject of frost, how low does the temp need to get for frost? Where is the best place to check if there is going to be a frost?
Many thanks, and sorry to hi-jack!
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