Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
sunnibel7

Freeze warning?

sunnibel7 Md 7
9 years ago

Hey all, it is supposed to get down to 27� here tonight after 4 days of really warm temps. Is that 4 day period enough to make my plants not cold-hardy? It's raining cats and dogs today, making it hard to get out there and cover things, but I will if I need to. Peas are just barely up, as are favas. Planted out some lettuce, onions, leeks and broccoli. All those were hardened off with night temps in the mid 30s. The soil is reasonably warm, 55-60�. Heck I wonder if all those peach blossoms that just finished will make it, but that's a question for a nother forum...

Comments (25)

  • wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
    9 years ago

    2 cold nights here too....peas barely up. I set out only part of the broccoli to not put all my eggs in one basket. Most springs have their times like this. Potatoes are not sprouted as much as usual...before planting, but that is ok as the weather is 10 days or more behind anyway.

    I think that the peach blossoms are ruined for the first times in many years...a couple of extra cold nights does that. -14ðand colder does that

  • wertach zone 7-B SC
    9 years ago

    sunnibel7 you should be OK on the Peas, favas, lettuce, onions, leeks and broccoli, they are cold hardy. Peaches, I would cover if possible.

    We are supposed to have frost tonight also. But it shouldn't get below 30.

    I'm a little worried about my peaches, nectarines, and apples. I have pea size peaches and nectarines, my apples are budding.

  • glib
    9 years ago

    We will get to 17 tonight, for the time being the seedlings are under last night's snow, but the sun just came out and is threatening to ruin everything. About 6pm I will have to decide whether to cover.

  • glo407
    9 years ago

    We get our cabbage, collards, onions, and other spring veggies from a community garden club. We just planted them on April 12. We were told they were "hardened off" when asked about this mean cold snap coming tonight (31 tonight-35 tomorrow night). In some freezes (noticed this before my interest in vegetables) there was advice to cover your plants. I've got boxes ready to use as covers. Should I cover my young ones?

  • Slimy_Okra
    9 years ago

    Glo407, no need to cover those plants for a 31 degree frost. Even slightly hardened off cool-season crops will have no issues with it. Very well hardened off crops will tolerate 20s and even teens.

  • terry_neoh
    9 years ago

    Forecasting 22 degrees here tonight. I don't have anything out yet (thank goodness) except some very small lettuce next to the south side of the house. This kind of freeze may nip the daffodils, but that's a problem for another forum.

  • sunnibel7 Md 7
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks, guys! Unfortunately the peach is a good size tree and I don't really have anything large enough to cover it with. I'll just cross my fingers and hope for a few degrees warmer than they project.

  • terry_neoh
    9 years ago

    Sunnibel, do you have enough extension cords to set up a fan near your peach tree? This could help keep the coldest air from settling on you tree.

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    I also think that none of those veggies need covering. They are all frost/freeze hardy. I would only worry about things like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants. But apparently you don't have any of those out there.

    ANOTHER POINT:

    Getting down to 28/29 ...might not be necessarily A FREEZE warning. It depend on the mechanics of cooling. If you get a real cold front moving in with winds, that can be real serious. But if it cools down with a clear sky, no high winds, that is not going to be serious since the LOWS will be short lived. And will not have enough time to cool down the soil and the plants substantially. If you look into your hourly weather data often you shall see what I mean.

    This post was edited by seysonn on Wed, Apr 16, 14 at 4:53

  • ltilton
    9 years ago

    Sunnibel, I just posted this chart over at the fruits forum, you may find it useful

    Here is a link that might be useful: frost damage chart

  • HotHabaneroLady
    9 years ago

    I think I'm near sunnibel, or at least we are in the same zone and facing the same freeze tonight and cold temps for at least the next few nights. I was getting concerned about the buds that have formed on my apple and peach trees. But if I'm reading this chart correctly, it sounds like I might lose a few buds, but nothing serious. It almost sounds like that might even be a good thing because it would save me the trouble of pinching off some of the excess. Is that about right or am I not taking this seriously enough?

    What a weird spring!

  • sunnibel7 Md 7
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Still trying to figure out how low it got last night, haven't gone out to face the garden yet either. I'm hopeful for all the veggies, but the peach I'm just not sure. When I was feeding the cat an hour or so ago it was just 33ð and still had ice in the shade. I know I have cold-season crops out there, but one memorable spring 2 years ago I lost pretty much everything to a cold snap like this after a bout of warm weather. Thanks for all the support and information!

  • ltilton
    9 years ago

    Lady, that seems to be right, if they're still in bud.

    Sunnibel's peaches have dropped their petals already, which makes them more vulnerable.

  • wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
    9 years ago

    Things like broccoli and cabbage will survive 25ð really well IF the roots are well established after transplanting. If they are newly transplanted, Cover them up as they tend to be injured some even though they survive.

    27ð is about the injury line for fruiting blossoms.

  • howelbama
    9 years ago

    So, my recently transplanted onions were covered in an icy snow this morning. Think they will be ok? They have only been in the ground for about 4 days.

    This post was edited by howelbama on Wed, Apr 16, 14 at 12:02

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    I have had fall planted onions. They survived all winter. A few times the ground froze like solid rock for days. Same goes fo leek and garlics and parsley.

  • wertach zone 7-B SC
    9 years ago

    It got to 30.5 degrees here last night. I'll be checking damage on my fruit when I get home.

    seysonn, you are in 7b like me, does your ground freeze like a rock normally? Mine did this winter for a few days due to unusually (record setting) cold weather, but normally it never freezes more than a 1/2" or so.

    My onions and garlic came through unscathed. I did lose a small fig tree though. I'm hoping the roots survived, but it's not looking too good.

  • ltilton
    9 years ago

    Onions are bienniels, they're meant to survive through the winter.

  • howelbama
    9 years ago

    My concern with my onions is how recently they were transplanted... it has only been a few days, so I doubt their roots have done much yet...

  • sunnibel7 Md 7
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Update- everything looks fine. As near as I can tell it was 29ð around here. I don't know what would happen when if the peaches had experienced colder temps. Maybe this is the last scary weather for a while? Fingers crossed!

  • wertach zone 7-B SC
    9 years ago

    I lost some apple blooms Sunny, peaches were fine.

    I'm happy that yours look good! Maybe we both sneaked by!

  • sunnibel7 Md 7
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Yes, please, right? I think it's been at least 2 crazy bad springs in a row, do we need a third? :)

  • wertach zone 7-B SC
    9 years ago

    It looks like it is going to be a third bad spring here.

    It's Easter, by golly! It is supposed to be warm and sunny, with flowers in full bloom!

    It's raining, cold, windy, just plain miserable. All of my tender flowers dropped their blooms from the frost. GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

    I usually plant a lot of stuff on Good Friday. Not this year!

    Sorry, but I've got a bad case of cabin fever......

  • zeedman Zone 5 Wisconsin
    9 years ago

    "Sorry, but I've got a bad case of cabin fever......"

    Nah, that's just gardener's frost bite. ;-) Got a pretty bad case of it myself. I'm wondering if all of the transplants I've got indoors will get planted on time, or whether they will die waiting for good weather (as most of them did last year).

  • wertach zone 7-B SC
    9 years ago

    OWW Zeedman, that hurts when you baby them, then lose them!

    I just raised the lights again on my tomatoes and peppers, I started from seed 4 weeks ago.

    I was planning to plant them this week, under a hoop, but the weather is too bad. They are getting too big for the solo cups and no end of bad weather in sight.

    I'm going to run out of head-space for the lights and I'm probably going to have to re-pot them again. If I do I'll have to rig up lights somewhere else unless it warms enough to harden them off outside for the second time........