Frost alert!

[Kelby]

Frost alert here in SE PA tomorrow and Friday night. Argh. Not going too overboard with the shuffle, but I'll be moving the potted figs along the garage by the rain barrels for shelter. 4 or 5 with lots of brebas or that are further along will go in and out of the garage.

And this is exactly why I don't want many in pots, I only have 15 or 20 and I'm frustrated! Have some other potted plants to move or cross my fingers for as well. Peach tree is finishing up bloom, pears and apples about to open, hoping there's no damage.

End of my rant.

[Taverna78]

Hey Kelby.... Last week in Chicago 82F and 65F at night. Today 32F with windchill = 29F and snow flurry. No wonder my trees can't get acclimated ... Cover uncover cover uncover... They may end up with epileptic seizure ! Ahaha!

[eboone]

Here, next 3 nights predicted at near or under 32. Gonna do the shuffle into the garage tonight with all 43 or so bigger pots and the 15 newly potted up cuttings in 1-2g pots. Probably will leave them there till Sat, given the repeat shuffling otherwise.

[cis4elk]

I feel you Kelby. Last spring we had a late deep freeze which killed all the peach blossoms, and now last fall we had a early deep freeze which killed the terminal foot or so of all my peach branches along with the dormant blossoms. Then you add the canker into the mix... sheesh; it's a good thing I'm not a peach farmer!

[figherder]

Funny that my one in ground fig, hardy Chicago isnt doing anything yet. Seems it knows its not time to open. All my others in pots I moved in a couple days ago. Decided not to shuffle and just wait for warmer temps. They are in a south facing window. Last frost date is may 15.. Hopefully they make it back out before then.

[Kelby]

Only one of my inground plants are showing any green yet, all the others are dormant and I expect them to be for several weeks still.

[F. Bennett]

I moved mine in a couple of hours ago. Strong wind gusts today, followed by 40° tonight. Tomorrow night will be 39°. I figure it's worth moving a few more times if it means I'll get rewarded in a few months. It helps that I'm only moving them about 10-15 feet from their outside spot. I was more worried about the winds today, rather than night temps.

[Kelby]

Yeah, we just had the wind rip through. I didn't know it was going to be that bad til I got to work. Guess I'll see if there's any harm done when I get home!

[n8b8s]

I took a risk and put away my greenhouse space heater, luckily I didn't take off the insulation film from the windows. I may not have the room for a lot of figs, but those I have are well protected.

[indestructible87]

Can someone post the lyrics to the "Fig Shuffle" ?

[kubota1]

Tough love for my plants this year. Friday and Saturday mornings will be around 30 degrees. They will stay outside. Too big and too many to shuffle. We'll see if I lose all the breba.

[hoosierbanana]

Row cover hung over taught wires will prevent frost from settling on plants. It works for tomatoes and also for figs as long as the leaves are not touching the fabric.

Not that it helps any of you now, but it is something to think about for the future. It will take a big piece to cover large trees, the fabric needs to go to the ground. A 30'x50' piece of Typar costs $81 at Nolt's produce supply.

[Kelby]

Only went down to 37F here last night, no frost that I can see. We'll see what tonight brings, supposed to be clear, so I'm expecting some.

[eboone]

31 degrees here last night, all were safely in the garage. Supposed to hit 29 tonight, plan to shuffle them out again tomorrow. Need to look at the longer range forecast...

Need to put them all in a couple big trailers to pull them in and out on

[kubota1]

Got down to 28 last night and my plants show it.

[cis4elk]

Ouch!

[AscPete]

It got down to a low of 27*F overnight. The inground espaliers were simply covered with Pine shavings since they have not had bud break. The potted trees that were outside were moved indoors, they will remain indoors until the overnight temperature forecasts are back over 40*F.

[sal]

AscPete which website do you use to see the Weather Forecast for our area?

[AscPete]

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick...1#.VTuryPCNrct and a Digital Outdoor thermometer. I'm at almost 1000' elevation in the Catskill foothills.

To see the recorded daily highs and lows for your nearest Weather Station, http://pnwpest.org/wea/ , On the top of Page choose "Map Index", select your state then select "all available networks" from the popup window. BTW, I'm in Ulster County.

[Kelby]

Whew, low of 34 but breezy and no frost!

[PA Figs]

Even though there was no frost, at least not that I saw by the time I woke up, my covered Conadria had some damage on the leaves against the cover as well as the couple I left exposed. The rest of the tree did great though.

[PepperMan]

I had some frost on the grass this morning when I went out to check figs around 7AM. The figs that had broke bud made it through the night without any damage to the new green growth with just a blanket thrown over them.