Houston – Pets, people, pipes and plants! These four P’s are what you need to focus on as an arctic front blows into Houston next week.
Our friends at Urban Harvest stopped by to show us exactly how to protect and save our precious fruit trees from the elements.
The video above has everything you need to know but here are some key takeaways they gave us:
Freeze Protection for Fruit Trees
- Determine the cold tolerance of your fruit tree.
- From 30 to 36 for short periods a Frost cloth covering the plant and weighted to the ground can usually be enough.
- Extended periods of significant cold require more care.
During an extended cold snap.
- Bank your trunk as a last resort. (Cover the base of the trunk as high as you can with soil.)
- Place a 5 gallon bucket of water near the trunk.
- Wire up a heat source near the base of the tree.
- Cover tree to the ground ( weighted down ) with the water bucket and heat source inside.
- Wrap in 6mm plastic to the ground once you get near the freeze.
- Make sure to remove the plastic when it warms up.
If you do not have a heat source?
- Bank tree as high as you can.
- Place more than one bucket of water near the base of the tree.
- Use Hay or other material to insulate around the tree.
- Then wrap in cloth to the ground and weighted
- Wrap in 6 mm plastic and make sure it is secure to the ground.
Stay warm, Houston!