Well, after the whipping I took with last winter's big freeze I need to improve my cold protection for the grove citrus so I want to make some frost cloth covers for them. Anyone have a source they'd like to recommend?

Thanks!

.....Alan.

Christmas lights make a big difference in my opinion--I use a variety of materials for cover, burlap, old sheets, tarps, spun polyester frost blanket and all of them will prevent damage when you are talking about mid to upper 20s for a few hours--the good thing about the spun polyester frost blanket is that you can leave it on the tree for a long time because it lets light through. However, I don't think covers alone will prevent damage if you are talking teens to low 20s--you have to provide some source of additional heat--water or lights.

This is true about the Christmas lights, but those I can get locally. The frost cloth I cannot so I am looking a good source at a reasonable price. Even just three degrees of additional protection would have been enough last winter to spare me the worst of the damage my trees sustained.

.....Alan.

Alan, Google floating row covers. They come in all sizes from small to very large. Floating row covers work well as frost blankets for citrus trees, (except in Colorado when the night temperatures drop to minus 25 degrees F.) - Millet

I think the floating row covers and frost blanket are the same material--lightweight spun polyester--just packaged for different purpose. I was able to get the frost blanket at HD 2 yrs ago, but they did not have it last fall--(new store). In case I really needed it, I went ahead and bought a roll of spun polyester landscape cloth (in tan color)--it is a little heavier material, and probably will not transmit enough light to leave it on the tree, but I am sure it will provide some cold protection--probably a little more than frost blanket.

You can also order the frost blanket material --I think a 56 inch x 50 ft sheet is about the same as what I paid at HD-$15--but you have to add shipping.

Alan, try Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply. They sell Agribon in different weights and sizes. The prices are decent.

http://www.groworganic.com/search.html?sText=agribon&sCategory=326&sSort=Best


John

Thanks jb! That's what I was looking for. Someone who had done business with a company who reported favorably on them.

I'll check out Home Depot as well. I don't recall ever having seen the floating row cover, but I may have overlooked it.

.....Alan.

Four Winds Growers also sells tree covers, $8 for small and $10 for large, here's a link- they're at the very bottom of their order form and a link shows you photos.
https://ssl4.westserver.net/fourwindsgrowers.com/secure/consumer/

Buying frost cloth in anything but bulk quantities is unduly expensive. I use high grade (thick) frost cloth that I purchase from a lwholesale outlet for agricultural products: GroSouth. I get a role that is 200 feet long and 12 feet wide that I pay aprox. $200 for. It lasts for 2-3 years. Buying individual "frost blankets" over the Internet or from Home Depot would not work for me. The material is low grade and the size rarely fits my needs. Please email me at Woollcott2004@comcast.net if you'd like further information.

I used to get mine from eBay and they're really cheap.

However, during the last Arctic Blast, I was very successful in using the professional grade weed blocker as a frost blanket. You can get a very big roll from CostCo for only $32. It is 4' x 220' long. That costs about 3.6 pennies per square feet.

I tested that one along with the floating covers, and it works just as great.

One thing nice about the professional grade weed blocker is that it is made similar to geofabric material, breathable, gray color, and stronger than the floating row covers.

The darker color will also protect your citruses from chilling injury that occurs when air temp is near freezing and the sun is shining brightly, and you need the protection from bright lights this time. The darker colors will warm up faster and help prevent chilling injury when both cold air and bright sun occurs together.

And I can re-use my roll in case a stray Arctic blast would hit us again.

I have most of my in ground citrus up against my house. I use a few portable tomato greenhouses and poly with the large Christmas lights when temperatures drop below 31f - on trees with fruit.On trees without fruit, i just cover them and turn on the Christmas lights when it goes into the mid 20's or below. I also use a product called 'crop cover' they farmers use it in the fields to cover the rows of onions through the winter. Its white and made from a fibrous material similar, but heavier, to the re usable cloth shopping bags.
Using the 7 watt Christmas lights are key for me.

Greg