Saving Fruit Buds From Freeze

Lightweight blankets, sheets and cotton pillow cases cover my flowering fruit trees early April.

Saving Fruit Buds From Freeze

Hopefully it's the last snow of the year but the forecast was ill-timed. Some of my dwarf fruit trees were flowering, their pink buds and round little posies threatened by the below freezing temperatures.

Over the years, I have covered them with a number of different textiles to see which ones work the best against frost and freezing temperatures. As long as it doesn't rain, cotton sheets, pillow cases and lightweight fleece blankets and coats seem to protect them the best without causing damage as they are unwrapped later.

If there is wet precipitation, then adding something over to shield the cotton helps. Bird seed bags, corn bags and plastic dry cleaning bags have helped to keep the cotton from adding weight to the branches.

These dwarf fruit trees have been covered for three days against the cold. Hopefully they will get unwrapped in another day or so and the flowers will warm up enough to entice the bees with freshly-produced nectar. I'm sure the bees will be happy to be out of their hives as well!

Charlotte