House wrap and Straw

Wrapped up my last tree I’ll be protecting this winter. It was more difficult in protecting since it grew wider than the buried hardware cloth cage, so I was only able to insulate the bottom +/- 3’ with straw while keeping an open center and tar paper / housewrap the rest of the way.

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I took a simplified approach this year, to protect my in-ground RdB. I'm trying to figure out the minimum protection necessary in Zone 6A Northern Indiana. My method involves an old clay tile, 2 old soil bags, and a 5 gallon bucket.

First I cut the tree to knee height, then covered with the 2 soil bags. Next I sat the clay tile down over the whole thing. Finally I pushed the 5G bucket down the inner diameter of the the clay tile, which was a slip fit. The idea was to add layers of covering without blocking the airs ability to move throughout and to keep from smothering the wood that I left. The clay tile should add some thermal mass on the really chilly nights in January.

Keep us updated in the spring, with regard the tree's condition.
 

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FruitBrute said:
I took a simplified approach this year, to protect my in-ground RdB. I'm trying to figure out the minimum protection necessary in Zone 6A Northern Indiana. My method involves an old clay tile, 2 old soil bags, and a 5 gallon bucket.

First I cut the tree to knee height, then covered with the 2 soil bags. Next I sat the clay tile down over the whole thing. Finally I pushed the 5G bucket down the inner diameter of the the clay tile, which was a slip fit. The idea was to add layers of covering without blocking the airs ability to move throughout and to keep from smothering the wood that I left. The clay tile should add some thermal mass on the really chilly nights in January.

Keep us updated in the spring, with regard the tree's condition.
Click to expand...

That’s what I’m looking for as well - minimum protection required.

With my family Etna type, I’ve determined that it’s fine down to at least 7 F and multiple days in a row with highs in the teens unprotected. I’m leaving AJH and Ciccio Nero unprotected this winter to get a low temperature reading.

Update us on your RDB in the Spring as well.
 
bushdoctor82 said:
That’s what I’m looking for as well - minimum protection required.

With my family Etna type, I’ve determined that it’s fine down to at least 7 F and multiple days in a row with highs in the teens unprotected. I’m leaving AJH and Ciccio Nero unprotected this winter to get a low temperature reading.

Update us on your RDB in the Spring as well.
Click to expand...


I'm not holding my breathe, as my RdB has died to the ground twice now, so temps may just be too cold regardless of protection 😂 It's worth a shot though, as long as the work involved isn't too overbearing. I really need to try to get some temp readings as well, but won't be doing that until I see how it does this year. Last year it's was unprotected and we had lows to -10F. It died flush to the ground and the sprouts came from 3-4 inches deep. So even ground level isn't safe here. Looking forward to seeing what low temps your trees will take.
 
It gets tougher and tougher to do this as they get bigger.
FruitBrute said:
I took a simplified approach this year, to protect my in-ground RdB. I'm trying to figure out the minimum protection necessary in Zone 6A Northern Indiana. My method involves an old clay tile, 2 old soil bags, and a 5 gallon bucket.

First I cut the tree to knee height, then covered with the 2 soil bags. Next I sat the clay tile down over the whole thing. Finally I pushed the 5G bucket down the inner diameter of the the clay tile, which was a slip fit. The idea was to add layers of covering without blocking the airs ability to move throughout and to keep from smothering the wood that I left. The clay tile should add some thermal mass on the really chilly nights in January.

Keep us updated in the spring, with regard the tree's condition.
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Did you basically bring it down to the single trunk?
 
TorontoJoe said:
It gets tougher and tougher to do this as they get bigger.

Did you basically bring it down to the single trunk?
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At this point it's more of a shrub because its only been in ground a few seasons with no protection, but yes, if I can figure out a way to protect it to a height of ~2' then I would prune it back to nubs and let it grow back from the trunk every season. Not looking for a massive producer just yet, just seeing if I can find a minimal system of protection. Then will scale the size of the system if needed to cover a larger canopy. I'm not looking to wrap any tree like I have seen on social media or elsewhere. Just looks like too much extra work and my priorities can't be on my figs for the time being. The clay tile won't be scalable, so may have to stick to pruning back to the trunk every season. We shall see in years to come.
 
FruitBrute said:
At this point it's more of a shrub because its only been in ground a few seasons with no protection, but yes, if I can figure out a way to protect it to a height of ~2' then I would prune it back to nubs and let it grow back from the trunk every season. Not looking for a massive producer just yet, just seeing if I can find a minimal system of protection. Then will scale the size of the system if needed to cover a larger canopy. I'm not looking to wrap any tree like I have seen on social media or elsewhere. Just looks like too much extra work and my priorities can't be on my figs for the time being. The clay tile won't be scalable, so may have to stick to pruning back to the trunk every season. We shall see in years to come.
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I hear you.

Since new growth does generally emerge form older wood later, I want to play with keeping half the new growth every year to fruit the following... and what emerges later the same year and doesn't have time to ripen fruit, I keep that for the following and remove the one that fruited... Or something like that so I have younger fruiting wood ready to go every year...Did that make sense? :D
 
TorontoJoe said:
I hear you.

Since new growth does generally emerge form older wood later, I want to play with keeping half the new growth every year to fruit the following... and what emerges later the same year and doesn't have time to ripen fruit, I keep that for the following and remove the one that fruited... Or something like that so I have younger fruiting wood ready to go every year...Did that make sense? :D
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Yep, I understand what you are saying. I have thought about training scaffolds downward at a steep angle from the top of a trunk, using stakes annually, to make pruning and protection easier as the limbs would be easier to tie into the trunk. Also would be easy to selectively prune for the following seasons fruiting wood.
 
FruitBrute said:
Yep, I understand what you are saying. I have thought about training scaffolds downward at a steep angle from the top of a trunk, using stakes annually, to make pruning and protection easier as the limbs would be easier to tie into the trunk. Also would be easy to selectively prune for the following seasons fruiting wood.
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Downward.... that's a very cool idea. Even downward from along a low cordon could make for a lot of branches to work with
 
TorontoJoe said:
I hear you.

Since new growth does generally emerge form older wood later, I want to play with keeping half the new growth every year to fruit the following... and what emerges later the same year and doesn't have time to ripen fruit, I keep that for the following and remove the one that fruited... Or something like that so I have younger fruiting wood ready to go every year...Did that make sense? :D
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Joe what you just described reminds me of this video I saw a couple of years ago. It’s a desert king fig tree in Canada being pruned.

 
TorontoJoe said:
Downward.... that's a very cool idea. Even downward from along a low cordon could make for a lot of branches to work with
Click to expand...
TorontoJoe said:
Downward.... that's a very cool idea. Even downward from along a low cordon could make for a lot of branches to work with
Click to expand...


It's all a work in progress, but have long considerered trying to train my scaffolds downward, even on my container trees. Not sure how new growth will react to being trained downward though.
 
Christmas 2022, we had a polar vortex that killed many of my inground trees back to the ground. I didn't want that to happen again, so last winter, I wanted to protect them. I used 4' tall fencing to build a circular cage around each tree that I filled with wheat straw. (no Grazon on this straw) I covered that with a silver reflective barrier house wrap. I felt like we would be successful.

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I'm in zone 8-A. This light protection should have been enough. But then in January, a major Polar Vortex hit. We were below freezing for an entire week solid. For three nights, we had lows of 9f, 3f, and 3f. The second week of March, we uncovered the trees. It was immediately apparent that the trees took a lot of damage. It was not a pretty site. Most trees died to the ground.

Out of 43 ingrounds:
18% - 8 trees did not fully die to the ground and either only took light damage or no damage
70% - 30 trees died to the ground but later re-grew
12% - 5 actually died completely and were lost. All of those 5 had been planted the spring before, so this was their first winter in the ground.

Now I am gun shy and this is why I am so concerned about the possibility of another polar vortex. I will not be using this method again. Its just not enough protection for temps that low, and the straw becomes pricey with that many trees. I did not try to save all of that. We just used it as mulch. I think a heavier wrap would have helped or more layers.
 
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2Angels said:
Christmas 2022, we had a polar vortex that killed many of my inground trees back to the ground. I didn't want that to happen again, so last winter, I wanted to protect them. I used 4' tall fencing to build a circular cage around each tree that I filled with wheat straw. (no Grazon on this straw) I covered that with a silver reflective barrier hose wrap. I felt like we would be successful.

View attachment 3363
I'm in zone 8-A. This light protection should have been enough. But then in January, a major Polar Vortex hit. We were below freezing for an entire week solid. For three nights, we had lows of 9f, 3f, and 3f. The second week of March, we uncovered the trees. It was immediately apparent that the trees took a lot of damage. It was not a pretty site. Most trees died to the ground.

Out of 43 ingrounds:
18% - 8 trees did not fully die to the ground and either only took light damage or no damage
70% - 30 trees died to the ground but later re-grew
12% - 5 actually died completely and were lost. All of those 5 had been planted the spring before, so this was their first winter in the ground.

Now I am gun shy and this is why I am so concerned about the possibility of another polar vortex. I will not be using this method again. It’s just not enough protection for temps that low, and the straw becomes pricey with that many trees. I did not try to save all of that. We just used it as mulch. I think a heavier wrap would have helped or more layers.
Click to expand...
Was there any correlation between variety and amount of lignification of the trees that survived vs died to ground?
 
bushdoctor82 said:
Was there any correlation between variety and amount of lignification of the trees that survived vs died to ground?
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Lignification was not an issue because they had all been pruned to that same height. The ones that survived best were in the ground longer. The ones that died had been planted only the past spring. I can say that most of the survivors were Mt. Etna types or Celeste types, which is not surprising.
 
TorontoJoe said:
There is one thing I like to do when it gets really cold out….. 🍷 + Soppressata it certainly won’t protect your trees… But I won’t bother you as much 🙂
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Why is there no dooling emoji?!
It looks like the worst of it is now going to stay just north of me and I am greatly relieved, but those in OH, KY, and TN may be in for an ice storm and that's about the worst thing of all. It can be very scary stuff.
 
2Angels said:
Why is there no dooling emoji?!
It looks like the worst of it is now going to stay just north of me and I am greatly relieved, but those in OH, KY, and TN may be in for an ice storm and that's about the worst thing of all. It can be very scary stuff.
Click to expand...

🤤

It's difficult to find. I had to use the emoji search
 
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