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freeze tonight with open containers??
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Posted by
Micki777 6 PA (
My Page) on
Mon, Mar 26, 12 at 15:03
Can I just cover the containers?
some of the tops are already cut off
will the exposed plants be killed
such as rudbeckias have germed and are showing there 2nd leaves (just barely) Last night we had scattered frost and I just covered everything and everything was fine,
I've already transplanted stuff into contaienrs, I suppose if I can't put the open containers in a grnhs or cold frame they should be brought on to the porch??
what about just a blanket and tarp over things will that suffice??? TY I have a lot at stake here
Micki |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: freeze tonight with open containers??
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I put the covers back on yesterday. I work nights, so I wasn't going to chance it when I wasn't here to run out if needed. Last night didn't seem too cold, so I felt okay. Tonight, we're supposed to get a hard freeze. Eeeeek!
I don't have any extra blankets to use. I hope all of my new babies will be all right. *fingers crossed* |
RE: freeze tonight with open containers??
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- Posted by edie_h 5bNY (Finger Lakes) (My Page) on
Mon, Mar 26, 12 at 16:00
| This is from my local weather service: Statement as of 11:24 AM EDT on March 26, 2012 ... Hard freeze tonight... A much colder airmass is moving into central New York and
northeast Pennsylvania this afternoon. Tonight... low temperatures will range in the teens to lower 20s under mainly clear skies. Due to the unseasonably warm temperatures so far this month... some fruit trees and sensitive vegetation may already be vulnerable to temperatures this cold. Anyone with agricultural interests may need to take precautions to protect any sensitive plants. |
RE: freeze tonight, what do we do?
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- Posted by edie_h 5bNY (Finger Lakes) (My Page) on
Mon, Mar 26, 12 at 16:10
oops, meant to add my (panicked?)thoughts.
I put the weather statement in for anyone reading this thread in this area that didn't check their forecast yet. I've only got six containers sprouted, nothing planted out. I'm going to bring in those six, for me that's an easy decision. But I'm wondering too, what do we do with stuff that's coming up early or freshly planted out in the garden? I'm most concerned with the little blueberry bush I planted last year, which has leafed out and may have flower buds already. I don't know of any frost covers that protect into the teens. Will regular fabric work? Sheets, fabric shower curtains, tablecloths, etc.? Edie |
RE: freeze tonight with open containers??
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| I'm a nervous newbie too. I posted on the Keep them Warm? thread. I have over thirty containers of sprouts on my open porch. All perennials. None with true leaves. Not only is it going to be 25 degrees tonite, but the wind is chilling things down fast. Frost, I was prepared to tough out, but this could be a killing freeze. I'm not confident that quilts will keep them alive. For most of the sprouted containers, I've brought them in to the dining room table. I'm leaving one sprouted container out under a quilt to see what happens. |
RE: freeze tonight with open containers??
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- Posted by pippi21 Z7 Silver Spring, Md (My Page) on
Mon, Mar 26, 12 at 18:52
| I cut mine off about a week ago but kept the tops..right now I've already moved those WS containers to the bed of my husband's pick up truck..to protect them but I will be going out tomorrow morning before he leaves so I might as well, tape those tops back on and put them back out in the cold cruel world again. I will have to bring in my alyssum that are in 3 in. pots that have the Press&Seal off..Maybe I'll bring them inside and sit them on a piece of plastic or an old rug. |
RE: freeze tonight with open containers??
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| On my deck, I covered the plants in small pots with turned upside down big plastic totes. I bunched my gallon jugs together and covered them with old blankets. I put down big plastic bags inside the house and brought in the larger plants that I couldn't cover outside. Already, it's very cold especially with the wind chill! It's supposed to get down to the low 20's. |
RE: freeze tonight with open containers??
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- Posted by pippi21 Z7 Silver Spring, Md (My Page) on
Mon, Mar 26, 12 at 22:23
| Tops taped back on, sent out in the cold cruel world again. annuals that I had sown in 3 and 4 in. nursery pots that have nothing to cover them with were brought inside the living room, as well as the flat of creeping phlox I purchased today. When I get home tomorrow, they'll go back outside. Will keep an eye on the night time temps all this week. We've been so lucky with such a mild winter this year, maybe 2 in. of snowfall total. Here it is last week in March and Mother Nature is playing games with us. |
RE: freeze tonight with open containers??
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- Posted by pippi21 Z7 Silver Spring, Md (My Page) on
Tue, Mar 27, 12 at 16:22
| It did get down to 32 or 37, depending on which digital thermometer you believe here. I noticed the leaves of mums were a bit dark, like they had been effected..I haven't check thoroughly since coming home but I'll take a walk around the house in a few minutes. I took the creeping phlox outside when I got home today. They had been outside at the garden center, but under protective cover..filtered light I guess you'd say..it is 51 degrees now and we were just outside sitting and talking with the new neighbor and it was nice and warm. I may leave the phlox out again tonight. I never thought about turning pots upside down over the other..it is supposed to go back in 70's tomorrow and next day..we might have scattered showers(April Showers) showing up early! I will open the milk jugs up again when the weather shows up in the 70's. Some of the stuff needs to be either transplanted to a larger nursery pot or planted in the flowerbed.. Gardening is always about Trial and Error..that's the way we learn. |
RE: freeze tonight with open containers??
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| I am far up North and although we had summer like weather, I never did take my tops off (I use 2-litres). But I was not prepared for the dip in temps. and I went out today and several of my sprouts looked dead. The annual grasses looked like little mats of red fuzz. The only thing that was green was the Sweet William.We are expecting snow and hail tonight. I think I will have to re-sow. |
RE: freeze tonight with open containers??
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- Posted by pippi21 Z7 Silver Spring, Md (My Page) on
Wed, Mar 28, 12 at 6:27
| Are there enough air/water holes in them? Maybe they need bottom watering to perk them up. Some of my WS seedlings could be planted out, they have got that big. I will probably do exactly that within next few days and hope for the best. The calif. poppy and dwarf candytuft definately needs to be planted..I have calif. poppy plants that made it through the winter in the ground from last year and same for the candytuft, so that's my clue.. |
RE: freeze tonight with open containers??
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- Posted by bakemom z6 Central Ohio (My Page) on
Wed, Mar 28, 12 at 8:51
| I threw a towel over the basil. That's it. Everything was fine. The seeds are so much smarter than me. I let them tell me what to do. |
RE: freeze tonight with open containers??
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| I'm with Bakemom on this, no coddling. |
RE: freeze tonight with open containers??
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| FYI...my basil and tomatoes are fine even though we did have a freeze the other night. I was more worried about the basil, LOL, but they are fine. |
RE: freeze tonight with open containers??
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I have three containers in which the sprouts had become darker green after the soil became frozen, but they're getting taller, and those three plus some of the other containers are pushing up new sprouts even though it isn't very warm out there. All I did was throw the tops back on those I had open, mainly because I was going to be at work. I felt better with the toops on after the weather guy said "hard freeze". Other than that, I'm just checking for sprouts and proper moisture levels. Definitely much easier than coddling plants inside under lights, which I still do for certain ones, like Coleus.
And looking at the 100-plus containers I have out there, boy am I glad I don't have to go through hardening them all off. |
RE: freeze tonight with open containers??
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- Posted by pippi21 Z7 Silver Spring, Md (My Page) on
Thu, Mar 29, 12 at 20:45
| Yesterday I planted out Emerald Blue creeping phlox that I had purchased at my favorite Garden Center over the weekend or one day last week..The other night, the hydrangea bushes got hit hard but I figure they will come back..supposed to be down in 40's tonight but to be on the safe side, I went to garage and got larger nursery pots and covered the newly planted phlox and calif. poppy up..Will remove them the first thing tomorrow morning. Hoping next week is warmer and I get more accomplished..no Dr. appt. or volunteer work to take up my time. |
RE: freeze tonight with open containers??
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| Row covers work well for containers with sprouts and for things you have planted in the garden. They are so light they let air and light thru, but somehow do protect to a low temp. |
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