Not as bad as the first, but this time we did get some damage. That big plastic sail I taped to the fruit tree tried manfully to uproot the poor thing, not to mention knocking off most of the blossoms I was trying to save in the first place. Bother. A windbreak gate's hinges got torn right out of the wood, doing minor secondary damage as it traveled in a very purposeful windward direction.
In other news, Ghost seems on the mend. He's putting more weight on the paw, though he still goes three-legged when he wants to run. He's obviously in better spirits than yesterday.
It's still quite windy this morning, which is a bit unusual as the storms usually blow themselves out overnight and then resume in the afternoon. So it's possible we're gonna have an entertaining afternoon. Yay!
Sunday, Nov. 17, News and Commentary
5 hours ago
4 comments:
A tarp won't save fruit blossoms from frost; trees don't generate internal heat, they don't get warm under a blanket the way us warm-bloods do.
As you discovered, a tarp is a PITA to put on and a threat to the tree.
The tried and true way to protect blossoms against frost is smudge pots. Raise the local temperature in the orchard just a fraction of a degree and the frost will form somewhere else first. You don't have to heat the whole tree to above freezing, just keep the tree a teeny bit warmer than the rocks and other plants that take the frost.
Smudges won't work in a high wind; if that's when your blossoms are getting frosted, well, there's a reason there are no orchards in your part of the world.
Ah, well. It was worth a try.
:-(
also a string of chrismas lights strung through the tree would help warm it if you can afford the juice.
String it 1/2 way between the trunk and the outside branches. Not LED kinds of course but regular bulbs. Which makes it not much of a solution for off grid.
fm
What about a Dietz Lantern
Zookeeper
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