Possible rough weather for the Lowcountry

I started putting out Christmas stuff and now I'm wondering if I should hold up on finishing it up. I was thinking about going Griswall this year.

I tightened up the ropes on the greenhouse when I saw this earlier and stowed chairs and pots away. Be a good test for my new roof to make sure it doesn't leak!

X

Core, if you do go Griswall, I hope you'll post a photo!
:)

Core, I want to see Griswall too!!! I love that movie....we watch it every Christmas!

Don't know if you will be able to see this image......I'm just learning about saving images from the internet. But anyway------this was a flag I found while noodling around for a holiday flag. This one has a picture of a -palmetto tree with the caption "Merry Christmas, Y'all". Just perfect for South Carolina gardeners, doncha think??

Silkroad, I really think that's very appropriate for SC. Even thought I am in the Golden Isles, I have a palmetto tree and moon on the back of my van. I have family in the low country and love it!!! Not sure what would be appropriate down here....do you think they have a card with a turkey buzzards pulling santa's sleigh LOL I am sending out cards with a gator and a Christmas present in his mouth. Thought my northern friends would get a laugh.

Hi silkroad, fancy meeting you here. :-)

Whoa, it is 68 now, supposed to be in the high 70's tomorrow and then go down to 29 on Thursday evening. Ouch, I had better get that FreezePruf sprayed.

This message was edited Dec 9, 2009 2:36 AM

It didn't get to freezing last night but close, 34F with a wind. The only damage I found was on some of my split leaf philodendrons leaves. The sheet I had covering it got blown partially off. Also, the leaves on my sky vine (Thunbergia grandiflora) looked a bit upset. I didn't cover it last night. Today I took cuttings and covered the rest since it's supposed ot be cold again tonight.
I ordered Freezpruf (i really wish some local nursery's would carry it), so I'll be able to use it for the next freeze. That is supposed to happen in a week!
Barb

We only got down to 45 so I can't say if the FreezePruf had any effect or not. Barb, it is made by the same company that makes Liquid Fence deer repellent and just about every hardware store carries that. Ordering another product from the same company make it very easy for a store. I mentioned it to our local Grayco hardware and they ordered it the same day. Within a week I had it in my greedy hands. Try some of your independent places and see if they won'e get you some.

Ardesia,
That's what I'm hoping. I went to every local nursery in town and none had it, but they all carry Liquid Fence. I asked and a few are planning on getting some.
Barb

oh, man. woke up to rock hard frozen ground..... and I just planted 25 or so irises two days ago in very damp soil.... not used to getting a hard freeze two weeks before Christmas. Heck , a few years back I had a rose blooming for Christmas day!

Realy great idea getting your local hardware store to get the frese proff,I orderd mine and the shipping ran the cost up,still waiting for a frost on Emerald Isle ,barier island.N C I think I sprayed my palms and bannas to early and will have to spray them again before Feb. Hope my Ace Hardware store is stocking it by then,will be intrested in hereing how this product is helping any one who has been using it in colder regions then mine ? Hoitider

I have never heard of FreezePruf until I got on this thread. Of course when I lived in VA. we didn't have alot of plants that were tropicals outside unless they were in pots and could be moved into the Sun room in the winter. A lot of my tender plants were annuals and I knew they would be gone by this time of the year. My problem here is all the rain we have had in the last week. My whole yard looks like a swamp and I am using my kayak to go to the mailbox (just kidding) LOL Has warmed up today since the warm front came through and is currently 74 degrees. Need some sun and warm breezy temps to dry it out. Do you use FreezePruf on sagos??? We have a Ace Hardware store on St. Simons Island and I could probably get some there or at the Ace Nursery.

You can use it on any plant. It coats the surface, protecting like a frost sheet, but more so.

No need on Sagos, you're plenty warm enough for them.

oh, this freezepruf? isnews to me.

Here you go....

http://www.liquidfence.com/FreezePruf.html

Mine better be in my mail box soon. It's supposed to get to freezing again in 2 days.
Barb

Thanks for the site Ardesia. I will keep that in mind for future use. I really don't have much to protect as of now because we just moved in a couple of months ago and have very basic landscaping. There is a lot for me to learn living in this area after all the years in Tidewater. Very warm and foggy today....suppose to reach 77 but don't think it will get that high. Currently, it's 71. Suppose to be moderate the rest of this week.

wow! wish I'd had that for my reblooming irises! I've got one with a bloomstalk (not yet showing color) that got frost killed last Friday. We could have had an iris in bloom for Christmas!

I sprayed last week but we haven't had any really cold weather to test it out. I understand it is very important to spray both the tops and bottpoms of the foliage. I truly do not want cold weather but I would love to know if this stuff works.

Let me know if it does. Foggy tonight and the frogs are singing!!!!

We can hold off on the cold Ardesia, how about all winter?? Last winter got cold for a little while so let's go for a winter without breaking 30.

Aw gee, I just want to test this stuff then it can get warm again. LOL

It's 61 here this morning, not too shabby

With all the water everything is growing in my yard. I don't need stuff growing and then have a freeze come out of the blue. I like experiments but I'm not liking yours. LOL. Oceans still to warm any ways, I would seriously doubt that would could get a freeze right now.

I got the Freezpruf I ordered in the mail 3 days ago. It was supposed to get to freezing, but just barely. I used it at several peoples homes, on sagos and mandevilla vines. I'll really know how it works in about 4 days. It's supposed to get in the high 20's early next week.
Barb

be sure to let us know how it works, BeachBarbie

Got down to 33 last night. I had brough what few potted plants in that I had on the screened porch. Suppose to warm back up and be 72 on Christmas!!! Frogs are still singing. A great white egret was over in the ditch across the street and having breakfast this morning.

The Freezpruf I ordered came in last week, so I used it:

three days ago on a tropical hibiscus that's in the ground;

yesterday on two sagos in the ground, a lady palm and half of a variegated schiflera in pots and

today on the rest of the schiflera.
I also am doing a bit of an experiment at one of my landscape customers house. There are several Ti (Cordyline fruticosa) and variegated schifflera (Schefflera 'Variegata') plants in the ground, some of which have been in the ground for over a year (all the schiflera and one of the Ti). The schiflera came back last spring from the roots, as did one of the Ti plants. Today I sprayed one of each with Freezpruf, covered others with a sheet and left others alone. It's supposed to get down to 32F tonight, but may get lower. It was supposed to get that low last night and ended up getting down to 28F.
I haven't noticed any cold damage to the plants I sprayed at my house, but it is a bit soon to tell.
Barb

this is going to be an interesting experiment.

Yes Masta... (rubbing my hands together)

Beach Barbie....how is the Freezpruf working? The weather we are getting now is really a good test. Didn't know it could get this cold down here and will be glad when it's over. That's one of the many reasons we moved down here LOL Sure hope my sagos will be okay.

Freezepruf worked great for me until it got below 25F. After that - it didn't help much. But initially during the first frosts and light freezes - everything held up pretty well with the exception of my Dwarf Cavendish bananas. Tried it on Ti, White BOP, Travelers Palm, Monstera, and several bananas.

good to know.

Sofreezepruf basically works like watering everything down each night?? That will give you the same effect I believe, never tried it myself but that's what they do to the citrus trees down in FL.

Freezepruf is systemic to my understanding of the label. The plants absorb it and it essentially increases their ability to protect themselves from ice crystals forming on their leaves. I'm sure it's chemically a lot more complex than that, but that was the jist. They say up to 9F of protection below the norm for each plant - but that too varies on the type of plant.

The spraying/misting of trees in Florida I believe, like you noted, is an actual barrier to the cold. But I've heard it has to be done just right, so that the latent heat of the water freezing (I think that's what it's called) keeps the freeze from damaging the fruit/produce. I think this works to 28F for a few hours max.

So I think they work differently, but with the same effect.

I thought it had to do with moving water not freezing. That's why only the top of a river will freeze (exposed to air colder than the water) but not the water under it, even though all the water is same temp. Top of the water is moving slowest.

If you mean the spraying... it's kinda weird. Water actually creates latent heat as it freezes. I Googled it and found a more elaborate explanation. The second one is what I've often heard.

"What the orange growers are relying on is a thermodynamic property (in this case, of water) called latent heat of fusion. Basically, since water can exist in its solid and liquid form simultaneously ONLY at 32° F, it will stay at that temperature until it is all frozen. So for a short-lived cold snap, this strategy can protect one's orange trees by having the sprayed-on water freeze essentially instead of the orange. But if it stays below freezing for an extended period, the oranges will freeze, too."

"Water keeps trees from freezing due to the fact is releases heat when it freezes, each gram of water that is frozen releases 80 calories of heat. That heat raises the temperature of the tree, the air around the tree and the soil, preventing ice formation in the tissues of the tree."