Oh, I forgot to mention that the low tonight here is predicted to be 28*. I know that is not cold enough to cause a "hard" freeze, but we've probably still got LOTS of cold weather between now and April 15!!

Thanks again,
Robert

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What cultivar peach is that? One of my white peaches stated on the label that the blooms are freeze resistent (its a white lady peach) but i planted it last fall too early to tell if theres any truth to that or not.

Weezie, I think what you mean about the sunlight is sunscald. It's when the sap freezes, and then the sun warms the sap too quickly, bursting the bark.
It's possible to cover the tree with a sheet or other material if it's only the overnight low you're worried about. If temps stay low too long, this isn't much help. And in Florida, they do run some kind of sprinklers or something...as water freezes, it releases heat...that sounds funny, doesn't it! It keeps the temp around 32, though. And they used to hang out "smudge pots."
Little pots with a wick and oil or kerosene, like a lantern. I don't know if they still do that.
These may be issues I'll need to look into...Counting all my little tiny saplings and my handful of larger trees, as of this year I have 32 peach trees!
Hmmmm. Maybe it's time for more research!

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Dave
Even my growlights are getting restless!

Thanks Dave. I have never known of a tree dying from a hard freez/frost either. But, I had heard all my life that it was true. Like you, I've only seen it kill crepe's and the like. And as for it causing cracks in the bark, I know that is true. Mine has the scars to prove it!!

DCL, I don't know what cultivar this tree is. It was given to me 3 years ago and it had no tag. I was told that it came from Rural King and that it was a "Princess something" or a "something Princess." When I checked with RK, they had no more and were unable to tell me what the name would have been. As for the "freeze resistent" blooms, I have heard of such, but don't know anything about them. Good luck with yours.

Weezie, I don't know all of the ways that the FL producers protect their citrus crops. But, I do know that they use helicopters to keep the air moving (frost is not supposed to accumulate in windy conditions), smudge pots (for heat), and irrigation type spray systems to keep the blooms wet with liquid from before sunrise until the temps are above freezing.

I too have heard and read that it is not the freezing that kills the bloom. Instead, it is supposed to be something to do with the frost itself. I don't know if it magnifies the sun or not. But, I have had temps down to 20* on a cloudy, windy night and it did not hurt the blooms. A few days later, the temp got down to only 30*, but that night was clear and no wind. It knocked every bloom off the tree.

Thanks for everyone's input.

I'm going to try something that I read about on the internet. I'm going to load the tree down with Christmas lights (for heat) and cover it good with a bed sheet. I'll get up early and take the sheet off soon after the sun comes up. I'll let you all know if this works to keep the blooms or not.

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My New Web Site If you take a look, please sign my guest book so I'll know you've been there! Also, check out the new African Violet addition to my site! Thanks

That is a brilliant idea! Christmas lights!

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Dave
Even my growlights are getting restless!

Weezie said:

quote:

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Where you just over at my mothers' listening to her and I?????
HUH????

Well, we were talking about someone having a coconut tree or something around here, and that's what they didddddddddddddddddddd.....
That is just toooooooooooo weird, not about an half an hour ago...

---

In addition to being a psychic and a clairvoyant, I travel through time and space during my out of body experiences. I tried my best to get your attention at your mom's house. I unrolled an entire roll of paper towels on the kitchen floor, but you all never noticed!

Only kidding!! If you talk to your mom later and find out that a roll of paper towels were mysteriously unrolled onto her kitchen floor, I'm heading for the hills and I won't ever speak to you again!!

Well, I thought you all might like to see my "peachy" Christmas tree (I just couldn't resist that). So I took some pics. Sorry for the lousey quality. I've had a lot of trouble with my hands shaking today, so the pics are blury. Again, sorry.

Here is the 8' peach tree with 80'/300 lites on it:


Here it is after I wrapped it with cloth and tied it up with jute bailing twine:


After I got it finished, my neighbor's friend was pulling into their gravel driveway when I heard them slam on their brakes and skid on the gravel. I looked over to see what was going on. There were 4 in the car and they were staring at and pointing to the tree. After a couple of minutes, they slowly drove on up to my neighbor's house. When they got out, they were still looking at the tree!!

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My New Web Site If you take a look, please sign my guest book so I'll know you've been there! Also, check out the new African Violet addition to my site! Thanks

quote:

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If you talk to your mom later and find out that a roll of paper towels were mysteriously unrolled onto her kitchen floor, I'm heading for the hills and I won't ever speak to you again!!

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Uhhhhhh, there wasn't any unrolled paper towel, but there was some chewed up kleenex...hehehehe

Your tree looks fabulous...

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Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Thanks for all the well wishes for and compliments on my my tree!

Weezie, the kleenex was Skeeter..... my 3-year old Jack Russell. She sometimes does the out of body's with me!! Still don't understand why you all didn't find the paper towels!!

* * * *
My New Web Site If you take a look, please sign my guest book so I'll know you've been there! Also, check out the new African Violet addition to my site! Thanks

Weezie, I've heard of that too. I think in one of the Laura Ingels Wilder books, they all got up early to pour water on young corn plants with frost on the leaves and managed to save the crop. I'm not sure exactly what happens when the sun comes up that injures the plants though.

I believe the Florida citrus growers keep spraying the water on the trees all night long or as long as there is below freezing temperatures. What that does is continually adds water on top of the ice that is forming. The temperature that water freezes into ice as everybody knows is 32 degrees and if you keep adding water, the temperature of the ice will remain at 32 degrees and the blossoms will be saved as they are hardy at that temperature. If you just spray the trees for a short time, you are probably doing more harm than good, as with no additional water, the ice could chill further and harm the blossoms.

Here is a link that shows critical spring temperatures for fruit bud development stages It gives temperatures for 10% kill and 90% kill for 9 different bud/blossom stages for various fruits.

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Terry

May the force be with you