House wrap and Straw

bushdoctor82

bushdoctor82

Well-known member
These are photos from last season. 

I only protected 4 trees and this year will only protect 2 trees. The lowest the temperature got was 12 F. No winter damage to trees protected or unprotected, so jury is still out.

A brief synopsis - I used wire mesh and roofing paper to create structure at the base of tree. Straw was packed between the annular space of wire mesh and roofing paper. After first 4’ from base only roofing paper and straw was used. I wrapped in House wrap and secured bottom with mulch. On days with heavy rain or snow, I threw a white garage bag on top to shed water in case of leaks. Vented a few times late winter.

Will be reusing same materials again this season.

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Pretty cool, if you had no issues last year I say your good.
Unless you are looking at ways of improving?
I don't protect anything in ground and we hit the same low you mentioned.
But are usually sitting around 20-30+ most of the winter.
 
@"bushdoctor82"#14 this is a interesting solution to cold weather freezes. It makes sense that it would work as long as water didn't infiltrate the structure before freeze. Even then the water and material might be very insulative, and keep your trees alive. You mentioned that you used it on four trees 2 years ago, and then last year two trees BTW what happened to the other two trees?
 
Last winter I protected 4 of the 9 trees I had inground. The 4 were chosen due to being newly planted. This season I will only protect Byadi so I don’t potentially lose breba and RDB since I cut it back to ground due to severe frost cracking last Spring and new growth is rather spindly. I've also added an additional inground tree that I’ll let ride through the winter.

The only damage, other than a few tips I’ve had was two winters ago when the temperature was single digits for a few days. The damage only happened on the two trees where I pruned off large air layers. That’s why I will only prune inground trees in the Spring.
 
Nice and tidy job. I like the masonry tree ring. That may hold in a little bit of heat during the day and insulate the ground a little.
 
IMO, good house wrap is the absolute best sheet for this method of overwintering... It does the job it's supposed to do. It sheds water and it breathes out moisture. It's not cheap, but I'd take it over a tarp any day.
 
Agree - I purchased a 9’ x 150’ roll for $60 last fall at a local Mom and Pop shop where they buy trailers worth of construction materials for pennies on the dollar and sell for ~50% off retail. Can always find good deals.
 
I have seen some say they have left trees unprotected in the Jersey / NY area without damage, I know it depends on the type knowing some do better than others.
I have a HC, GM, St. Rita and Celeste in ground.
I feel like I should protect the Celeste only because it seems every year to take damage...then the ambrosia beetles get to it.
I'm hoping the others will survive as well as the HC did last winter.

We shall see.
 
I've been tempted to leave one of the larger trees unprotected. It was an exceptional winter last year.... if we did dip below 12F it was only very briefly. 

I'm pretty confident my bigger trees would largely make it through... probably just lots of tip damage on more narrow branches. 

One thing that's concerning me is I'm finding the in ground trees ripening a bit later as they get big. I'm guessing due to soil temps but I'm not sure if there are other factors at play.
 
I'm a bit worried about my GM, I didn't make a back up...though I believe it will at least come back from the ground if the top dies back.
My in ground trees are quite a bit later than my potted ones...I suppose that's a given anywhere.
Depending how they do over this winter will determine which ones I add in ground next spring.
 
I think the dead to the ground due to cold is somewhere in the 0-5 F temperature range for consecutive days. The only time my Mothers tree died to the ground was in 2014 or 2015 when we had a polar vortex come through and temperatures were in the 0-5 F range for about a week straight.
 
Wrapped up my RDB this morning with temperatures in the low 20s rolling in and the branches still greenish and flexible. I’m going to wait for at least a few more weeks to wrap up the other(s) if I choose to.

Process similar to last year, but since I used up my hardware cloth on other projects, I elected to use tar paper as the inner core. Pictures should show process, but here it is in brief:
  1. Inserted bamboo around tree and tied up tree and bamboo with string
  2. Created an open center and an outer ring and filled up annular space with straw
  3. Once filled to top, pruned tree and bamboo poles and capped with tar paper
  4. Wrapped with house wrap and mulched around base

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bushdoctor82 said:
Wrapped up my RDB this morning with temperatures in the low 20s rolling in and the branches still greenish and flexible. I’m going to wait for at least a few more weeks to wrap up the other(s) if I choose to.

Process similar to last year, but since I used up my hardware cloth on other projects, I elected to use tar paper as the inner core. Pictures should show process, but here it is in brief:
  1. Inserted bamboo around tree and tied up tree and bamboo with string
  2. Created an open center and an outer ring and filled up annular space with straw
  3. Once filled to top, pruned tree and bamboo poles and capped with tar paper
  4. Wrapped with house wrap and mulched around base

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That’s a great job. Last winter we used burlap on some, old blankets on some, then topped some of those with either tarpaper or extra large wardrobe cardboard boxes from Lowes then put silver tarps over the cardboard boxes. Just a thought did you make sure the straw is Grazon free? That Grazon will kill plants and once in the soil you will only be able to grow grass or corn because corn is in the grass family. I give you a 5 star rating for a great job. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
 
I decided to try and bury my in ground Colasanti Dark last week just to try something different. Cut the roots on one side. Snapped it off just below the soil line! 😡

Sticking with my cables!
 
Figgerlickinggood said:
That’s a great job. Last winter we used burlap on some, old blankets on some, then topped some of those with either tarpaper or extra large wardrobe cardboard boxes from Lowes then put silver tarps over the cardboard boxes. Just a thought did you make sure the straw is Grazon free? That Grazon will kill plants and once in the soil you will only be able to grow grass or corn because corn is in the grass family. I give you a 5 star rating for a great job. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
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Thanks.

This straw is definitely not herbicide free. I tested it last Spring with beans and they shriveled up and died within a month. This is the same straw I used last year for winter protection and I saved it in trash bags piled high in my shed during the summer - also same tar paper and house wrap (I tend to reuse a lot).

My thought on reusing the herbicide straw is that since it never gets wet, the chemicals can’t leach into the ground, or at a minimum not in a sufficient concentration to harm the trees - at least last year this proved true.
 
TorontoJoe said:
I decided to try and bury my in ground Colasanti Dark last week just to try something different. Cut the roots on one side. Snapped it off just below the soil line! 😡

Sticking with my cables!
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Daaaaang...sorry to hear that boss, That is one I brought into the garage tonight.
Hope it comes back from the roots.
 
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