I learned the right way to cover plants is with thin sheets. Apparently, the dew which falls on the leaves late in the middle of the night works to dampen the sheet which acts like watering the leaves in the middle of the night. My husband works with someone who used to work in citrus farms and he said to protect the leaves they would set the sprinklers to water at 4 a.m. Thin sheets give the same effect.
I did the sheet thing and compared with others I covered with plastic and he was right, the plastic covered ones looked much worse the next day.
Soooooooooooooo, my question is, at what temperature is it really necessary to cover and at what temperature do you remove the sheets???????????????????
Covering plants????
I have given up covering w/sheets. Waste of time and is chaotic. Consider this: If it is too fragile to handle the cold we get here, it doesn't belong in the ground but in pots that can be moved. If it is too fragile to handle the cold we get here what the heck are you doing trying to outwit Mother Nature. She doesn't like to be fooled. Your plants may get touched by the frost but they can be trimmed up in the spring. If they freeze, can you afford to lose it? It's like trying to grow camillias in bright sunlight in the summer or lettuce greens in the same or growing roses in the complete shade. It ain't gonna work.
Enjoy pictures of beautiful plants that don't grow here but don't try to grow those that don't belong here or that are planted at the wrong time or in the wrong place.
Ann
In houston, z9, I use bed sheets obtained at garage sales. If night temps are expected to be 32 or less, I cover that afternoon and will not remove until temps are 40 or above, which usually happens within 1-2 days. We've been lucky that we get very few days at 32 or less, so my delicates don't stay covered too long. Exceptions, my beloved plumies and plumi seedlings, I take those to the garage beginning when temps are 35 and they stay there til late feb/early march. I also don't keep them covered too long because they seem to suffer more from lack of sunlight than from cold temps.
since you are in a tad cooler area, you might need to be more conservative in your protective measures.
Ann, we posted at the same time. I wanted to add that I also buy very little that won't survive our temps. too chaotic, like Ann says.
deleted duplicate post.
This message was edited Dec 1, 2006 2:57 PM
I try to plant only things that won't take all that work. Last year I covered NOTHING but my newly planted citrus. (Some are in pots, but too big and heavy to move), and I hated how long it took things to come back (such as the Lantana, Blue Daze & Hibiscus).