Frost Damage

[Aberdeenplotter]

Frost is at freezing point or below. If the weather forecast is for 3degrees or lower, frost is a possibility.
Either check the net for a local weather forecast site or check on teletext.

[Bramble_killer]

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

rain forecast for the weekend here. Long overdue

[Alan G]

My potatoes (despite covering with fleece, although I admit some of it was touching the leaves) have incurred a bit of frost damage but they should be okay.

And I got a bit excited and planted out Sweetcorn (under fleece) and Tomatoes (under bottle cloches) over the BH weekend but thankfully they seem to be unharmed by Wednesday am's ground frost.

As for this long overdue rain - all I can say is 'phew'.

[womble]

Frost is at freezing point or below. If the weather forecast is for 3degrees or lower, frost is a possibility.
Either check the net for a local weather forecast site or check on teletext.

I thought frost could occur at temps lower than 3c?

Your local weather you need to know, I'm always way below the temps advised, it depends on your particular local geographic and weather conditions.

[bethduckie]

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 ...

See that makes a lot of sense to me... my very early earlies have grown hugely and I looked at them woefully last weekend and concluded I couldn't possibly earth them up any more then they had been... the earth was just falling off the top. Of course they have now been frosted and won't be very early earies any more... should have fleeced but I didn't have any so they had to take their chances.

My other first earlies went in a bit later and the lad earthed them up rather less half heartedly than me, so they were fully covered last weekend, plenty of earth there!

[Liza]

I was not sure why my grandad planted his spuds on good friday, Moon ? Weather ?

This year easter was very late but I waited.......not wanting to be smugbut as mine are only just poking through they look great unlike all the others on the site

[Chef_uk]

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!
x

In my limited knowledge there are two frosts. An air frost and a ground frost. The latter being more harmful to the veg grower. Any threat of a frost seems to be covered by the met office and their BBC weather bulletins but the met's predictions can sometimes be a bit off.

As for the temp at which you may get a frost depends on how urban you are. We are quite exposed with fields all around us and so even though it only dropped to 4c on Tuesday night, it was enough to kill many of the leaves on my potatoes in their growbag. I really should have fleeced them The lettuces in the ground survived though, maybe this was due to the warmth of the soil keeping them safe hence no ground frost?

[Two_Sheds]

The lettuces in the ground survived though, maybe this was due to the warmth of the soil keeping them safe hence no ground frost?

Lettuces are quite tolerant of the cold. We just think they're soft because we eat them in summer

[Two_Sheds]

I was not sure why my grandad planted his spuds on good friday,

It was traditional in the old days because it was the working man's only day off - Sunday being a day of rest

[Two_Sheds]

On the subject of frost, how low does the temp need to get for frost?

What's the difference between air & ground frost?

Our weather forecast is always wrong - they don't take into account that we are a few hundred yards from the beach, so our cold days are usually warmer than predicted, and our warm days several degrees cooler
I tend to use the forecast on iGoogle, it's more accurate than most I've tried (you can set your home town)

[womble]

We are quite exposed with fields all around us and so even though it only dropped to 4c on Tuesday night, it was enough to kill many of the leaves on my potatoes in their growbag. I really should have fleeced them

I don't think a 4c low would have damaged any potato leaves, I'd had it down to that here alot with no damage, it's only when it gets to freezing that damage occurs.