A lesson for my other trees....

I left some out to the wolves this winter but with this stretch of cold I got soft and I threw them into the exterior basement stairwell (about 5ft below grade, brick around 3 sides) with a tarp loosely thrown on top. I decided to toss in a temp sensor and was definitely surprised to see that it hasn't dropped below 20F, even a couple of mornings ago when we hit about 7F. I think after tonight I can remove the extension cord for the greenhouse heater as I don't see anything much below 20 for the foreseeable future

I'm hoping the upside of this cold will be less pest (at least bugs) pressure this coming summer. I'm really curious to see how my in-grounds performed at the garden plot. Half of the point is to see what will survive so I guess I can't complain about a real winter coming through and making those decisions earlier than I thought. They received zero protection and it seems that here at the house I'm roughly 5 degrees warmer.
 
hambones said:
I left some out to the wolves this winter but with this stretch of cold I got soft and I threw them into the exterior basement stairwell (about 5ft below grade, brick around 3 sides) with a tarp loosely thrown on top. I decided to toss in a temp sensor and was definitely surprised to see that it hasn't dropped below 20F, even a couple of mornings ago when we hit about 7F. I think after tonight I can remove the extension cord for the greenhouse heater as I don't see anything much below 20 for the foreseeable future

I'm hoping the upside of this cold will be less pest (at least bugs) pressure this coming summer. I'm really curious to see how my in-grounds performed at the garden plot. Half of the point is to see what will survive so I guess I can't complain about a real winter coming through and making those decisions earlier than I thought. They received zero protection and it seems that here at the house I'm roughly 5 degrees warmer.
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It's amazing the difference it makes. I have a walk out from my basement that's concrete on 3 sides including concrete steps and the door is sliding glass into a finished, heated basement. We never use it in the winter. I've thought it might be a good additional location to store some trees if I can figure out a way to cover the top.
 
TorontoJoe said:
That’s nuts! When’s the last time it was that low in your area? It’s not getting near that cold here.
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It has never been this cold over a long stretch for the 25 years that I’ve lived here. I think previously it went to 8 degrees for an hour or two about 10 years ago.
 
Gladstone1969 said:
It has never been this cold over a long stretch for the 25 years that I’ve lived here. I think previously it went to 8 degrees for an hour or two about 10 years ago.
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Did it go below 0 for you Brian? I' having tough time reading the graph.
I hit 4 degrees F
Did you see York Pa reported Negative -13 degrees F.
Saw a stat from a local meteorologist, that 90 percent of the Chesapeake Bay north of the Bay Bridge is frozen over. Boy I'm ready for that Global warming to get turned back on.
This stretch of cold is going to show us which of the in-ground girls are workhorses or show ponies.
 
DCallahan said:
Did it go below 0 for you Brian? I' having tough time reading the graph.
I hit 4 degrees F
Did you see York Pa reported Negative -13 degrees F.
Saw a stat from a local meteorologist, that 90 percent of the Chesapeake Bay north of the Bay Bridge is frozen over. Boy I'm ready for that Global warming to get turned back on.
This stretch of cold is going to show us which of the in-ground girls are workhorses or show ponies.
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It got to 3.6*F. And stayed below freezing for several days. I was lazier this year and didn’t add the tarp and foam/mylar insulation over my piles of mulch because of the experiments I had done, and overall winter experiences here. I also only really piled up mulch over the branches of more sensitive varieties - but all varieties had a thick layer of mulch over their roots. It will definitely be a test. My trees have never faced this kind of cold/freezing this since I’ve had them in ground. And I’ve never seen it like this in 25 years. It might make finding more places to plant new varieties easier! We’ll see and I’ll document it.

Hope you and family are well!

B
 
Gladstone1969 said:
It got to 3.6*F. And stayed below freezing for several days. I was lazier this year and didn’t add the tarp and foam/mylar insulation over my piles of mulch because of the experiments I had done, and overall winter experiences here. I also only really piled up mulch over the branches of more sensitive varieties - but all varieties had a thick layer of mulch over their roots. It will definitely be a test. My trees have never faced this kind of cold/freezing this since I’ve had them in ground. And I’ve never seen it like this in 25 years. It might make finding more places to plant new varieties easier! We’ll see and I’ll document it.

Hope you and family are well!

B
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This is going to make for an interesting spring opening. So many of us got too comfortable the last couple of years.
 
GoodFriendMike said:
Most of my tree's look like that right now.
Except the seedling's. They got covered.
Good thing is. I do not think I have any die back.
Except for some green wood. I am thinking
I might fertilize this weekend and hope we do not get another freeze.
Would be nice to have a really early start. :)
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You don't think it's too early to fertilize? Don't get me wrong, I hope you're feeling correct. I want it to start warming up. I dislike cold weather.
 
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