Benny make sure to position the heater ways away, otherwise it would cook your leaves. Try to radiate the heat onto the canopies at about 15 ft away. You don't need direct heat, only just enough to get through.

OK. Thanks again.
What I have I also have a low and high heat control. I tested it this morning and it tested good.

Joe, what are you doing with the fruit you have not picked yet and suspect may be ruined? My two navel trees are what I've been concentrating on mostly for the past five days and I know many of the outside oranges were frozen. I ate one Saturday morning, so I am certain some damage has taken place. I read on another thread that vodka can be used to prevent (delay?) the bitterness of juice from navel oranges, but don't have that much on hand!

I'd like some help in assessing how much fruit is damaged and what is best to do with it at this point. I probably have a 300-500 pounds of navel oranges on my two trees. I did pick quite a bit last Wednesday to give away and am thankful I did that.

GOOD NEWS: NONE OF MY FRUITS SUFFERED DAMAGES YET!
BAD NEWS: Another freezing night in the forecast, from 24 to 26 deg F

I only harvested the fruits that were in the topmost canopy and left the ones midway canopy and below, that is why I mentioned I only harvested a third of my crop.

So far, the only two mushy fruits that I found were actually rotten because they have had some pest bites or overripe. But the rest that are healthy looking, even the softest ones have their pulp bits intact.

Hi Joe,
Glad to hear your efforts are paying off-- sorry to hear it just keeps comming. We were having extremely warm weather until last night--it dropped to the low 40's. We are not forecast to have any temps below freezing in the next 10 days, but most lows will be in the 30's to low 40's.

It will be rainy and highs will only be in the 50's, so I will have to keep my seedlings inside for a couple weeks.


Skeet

It figures that our reprieve from the cold would come in the form of rain. Joe, is the rain going to cause you to spend this evening uncovering everything or will you finally get a full night's rest?

Kent

I won't be taking anything off until there's no more frosty nights in the forecast. Those are breathable polyester and geofibers (commercial weed block) and should endure rain or shine and should not affect the plants like a plastic sheet would. these are okay to leave on, come rain, hail or frosts.

wow. good luck to all of you battling right now.

Rain??? I can only wish. My crops need it pretty bad now, but I don't see any evidence of rain in the forecasts for the next 10 days.

It looks like some of my two large navel trees suffered some damage from the low 20s (my thermometer recorded a low of 20.1F), but I'm hoping most of the trees will be okay and some of the fruit is unaffected I believe. I care less if I lose some of this year's crop since most of it is given away anyways. When we bought this place in 1994 these trees had several dead limbs, apparently a result from our freeze back in 1990. I'm hoping that I've saved them from that. Last night I juiced some oranges that I believe were damaged, spiking with with vodka (per Joe's recommendation on some other thread). Seems okay so far.

Major casualty: All of my fishes (have been with me for 10 years) in the pond have died after it thawed out. They're all belly up. Sad news was relayed by my wife just 5 minutes ago when she was cleaning the area around the pond. I really forgot to break the ice during the deep freeze so they must have suffocated wen they can't break (of course they can't) the ice to gasp for air. I know they can survive being encased in ice but not anaerobic water. I turned off electrical outside for fear of broken pipes and electrocution, and then forgot about breaking the ice each morning.

Here is a pic I took yesterday of my pond before I poured HOT water over the filter pump/ fountain.



I am lucky enough to have a covered outlet with in just 2 ft or so of the pond..
I keep my pump running 24/7/365..
When the fountain freezes over I pour hot water to keep the air hole open..
here is photo I just took of the "air hole"..

You can see where the ice is starting to reform since yesterday..
We are suppose to get more nasty weather.. But not soo cold.. so maybe my pond will get a chance to thaw out a little..

I have poured hot water on my pond every time it freezes since I put fish in it and have not lost a fish to winter yet..
The ice and sleet is about 8" deep.. best I can tell..

Sorry to hear of your loss.. Though I haven't lost any to cold.. I have lost some to animals and idiot kids.. it can be heart breaking especially after soo long..
you are under quite a bit right now.. Hopefully the weather will improve soon and relieve some of your stress..

Gina *BabyBlue*

Joe, sorry to hear about your fish...they were koi I'm assuming?
Koi don't take cold as well as goldfish. If you chiseled the ice, they would've died from the noise & vibration of just that alone. I know -- I did that once! The 2 years before, they went in rocks & hybernated even though the surface was solid ice at least 10 inches deep. Also, I think because you had that warm spell, the fish didn't have enough time to "prepare" to hybernate. My fish are still in --NO CHISELING the ice this yr. It looks like ice is about 3-4 inches thick now & I piled snow on top to help insulate. I will see come spring how they are. We did have above ave. temps for 4 weeks strait, so got my fingers crossed.
The big rocks I keep on one end hold heat over winter & keeps water from turning to ice. That is where the fish go - in crevices, to sleep.
As I recently told Gina, there were about 2 years in my lifetime that Lake Michigan froze over -- from here to Michigan side, SOLID ICE. Also, several small lakes freeze over too, & fish did not die. Go figure!

Joe:

I am sooo sorry that you lost your fish. Ten years!! I want to cry for you and your family. Hopefully warmer temps and sunnier days are headed your way. Gina

Thank you Gina, Patty, Skeet, Ginabug, Garnetmoth, Kent, Harvey, and numerous other good well wishers here. Truly appreciate you all.

The fishes have been laid to rest properly. No they did not become fertilizers as Benny would have done

This would give me time to clean out the pond after 7 years of equilibrium.

Will post the pics of the aftermath.

So far, I have won all the rounds of this arctic blast with a hefty price paid.

Joe:
I lost my fishes too and we had them for many years but I 'planted'them underneath the california gold. So in the future if I see my bananas having beautiful flowers, I will remember my lost fishes.
I am not kidding.
Oh, I am crazy with bananas now. I just ordered 6 different kinds. But this topic should be in other than citrus thread.
Glad to hear you are doing well.
Oh, by the way, I drink hot calamondin juice when I have a cold and helps me a lot if you don''t know. I feed my kids too with them when they have a cold. Vitamin C you know.