Our weather forecast says that saturday night will dip down into 28F for the night time low. I have beet, carrot, lettuce, Kale, radish, and turnip seedlings already sprouted and growing down in my garden bed. I know that they are cold tolerant, but could they handle such a temperature drop at such a small size? they still all just have their seed leaves last time i looked. Or would i need to cover them up for that night just to be sure?
Then after saturday night we will go back to our typical 40's at night for this time of year.
Covering Cole crops from freeze?
They normally laugh at 28 degrees when established. Usually handle down to about 22 degrees.Of course if you want to be sure?
Agree with Farmerdill. I have lettuce, broccoli and onions planted and they have always been fine at those temperatures and I wont be covering them up Saturday night either.
ok thanks, was just curious, i knew that more mature plants could handle that with no problem, just wasnt sure about my young seedlings here.
I grow the same cole crops as JMC1987 every fall/winter, but, I start my seedling indoors under lights. They are an average of 8-10" when I transplant them into to garden, including the beets. (Have never transplanted carrots, LOL).
Looking at the size of his seedlings, at the least, I might suggest throwing an old bedsheet over the bed. Prop it up on some bricks so it doesn't mash those babies.
That's why I built an "in-the-bed greenhouse," and/or use hoops over all my raised beds. They stay covered year round, and I'm loving it more and more. Especially that I'm getting fewer and fewer moths laying eggs everywhere they can land. The covers thrwart that landing, and I'm having fewer worms hatching in the springtime.
Hugs!
yeah i am definitely going to throw on a cloth sheet, and then follow up with a plastic leaf tarp over top (with the support to hold it up, as GG mentioned), they have dropped our predicted saturday night temps even more to 24F (sheesh!)
well here goes nothing, applied the advice you all have given me in above posts, had to place some rocks down on the edges of the tarp as well, its windy as all heck out there, i had to chase it down the hill at one point, before i could get the rocks in place, LOL!
How did things turn out?
well, good news there, looks like everything hung in there, a couple of patches of ice crystals under there even after lifting the barriers up, but nothing of concern at all. :)
Yay!!!!
One thing I have learned here about weather and seedlings -- our wind does far more damage to seedlings than the cold ever does.
I use my hoops as a wind break in the fall/winter, not against the cold. The babes can take the dips down to around 30°-28° for a couple hours without damage. It's the constantly blowing wind that does them in.
I read somewhere that the plant uses more energy fighting against the wind, and becomes dehydrated. Translation: Croak!
Hugs!
I figured they would be alright. I have had bad luck covering things up under windy conditions with fabrics damaging the plants. I do use some frost guards that are rigid and strong and can be staked down. I always put them over my tomatoes to give them a head start.
http://www.gardenersedge.com/frost-guard/p/FRGD/
John
Here's my frost guard!
My PCV hoop stays up year round. I just change out the covers according to the season.
This message was edited Mar 31, 2015 8:28 PM
im tempted to make a hoop like that for growing squash / zukes in, and use a tulle covering instead. It would mean hand pollinating it all, but it would deny the borers any access to them
Hand pollinating is so easy and fast. You don't have to do it every day every couple of days is plenty. I ended up with more squash then I needed.