bubble wrapping for winter

UPDATE: Not using bubble wrap this year. Just covered the whole bunch with their own little greenhouse
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1055601/

I wrapped the trunks of almost all my brugs that were in-ground the beginning of Dec. I've just unwrapped them and they seem to be fine. We had several hard freezes that took the tops off some, but I managed to cover the "y" on most, so hope to see plenty of growth this spring. Wasn't pretty...but did the job.... The ones that weren't wrapped, but covered with blanket or sheets, froze to the ground.

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This message was edited Nov 17, 2009 7:49 AM

Congratulations! It's good to know that the bubble wrap can be left on the Brugs all winter. I wrapped and unwrapped all winter and chased flying sections of wrap all over our pastures. LOL. Of course, we had a dry winter this time. The challenge will to avoid rot if and when we get a wet winter. How many layers of bubble wrap did you use?

Only used one layer. Had a roll of bubble wrap about 12" wide. Used garden tape to secure the wrap all the way to the bottom, about 8" apart. Also left enough wrap at the top to cover over the "y" when possible, or to cover the top of the trunk otherwise. No water got into the wrap until I recently decided to spray some fish emulsion on the other plants, and opened the top ends. I sprayed a bit down the wrap and closed 'em up again. I noticed the leaves sprouting about a week or two later inside the wrap. Hope that makes sense!

Wow! It looks like it survived beautifully! Good job!

Yes, it made sense. I'll have to try it next winter. By early February, I was ready to let Mother Nature take its course. It was such a hassle getting the burlap and bubble wrap on in those high cold winds. I hope to have more Brugs in the ground this year. So I have to find a much simpler way to keep my Brugs' tops from freezing.

There was no condensation built up inside the wrap on the warm days? It stayed completely dry? I, like Veronica, have a lot of brugs going in the ground this spring and wrapping once would be most wonderful.

Can't say it stayed "completely dry." I would think there'd have to be a little condensation, but none rotted, or mildewed. Once I wrapped 'em, I didn't go out on warm days and inspect them for condensation. All look great when unwrapped and have leaves growing all up the stems...which I'll strip off. I'm just passing along what worked for me, not promoting it. I wanted some standards that I didn't have to wait to re-grow after the freezes. I still have a few I haven't unwrapped that are up in the back of bed and got pushed over by some kind of animal (probably raccoon). I'll try to remember to take pic of them, as they've been thru a few days of high 80's, including today's 89.

Well there is another Dger in Odessa that bubble wrapped one of her standards last winter with great results. I have been thinking of doing that for mine next winter. There was another Dger closer to Palestine that had moisture develop in her wraps and felt it wasn't a success. Maybe it has something to do with how tight you wrap it. The tighter the better. Less surface area to develop moisture. I don't know, but I really like the idea of wrapping.

I agree wrapping above the y is best so you don't have to start over and you can maintain the standard look. Thanks for sharing your results. I will definately give it a try next winter. Better start saving up for the wrap now. I lined my GH with bubble wrap this year. That's a lot of bubble wrap. :)

Interesting - but I think if the y has turned brown you might as well cut it off as it won't green up again.

I wonder if the success rate varies depending if you put the bubble side towards the trunk versus the flat side? The bubble side would allow better ventilation and may help keep the trunk from rotting?

Fred

Good Fred... and to keep it secured on the top end.. to keep moisture from entering.. I think what's behind the wrap the plant can deal with.. humidity in my cool room has been at least over 80% all winter.. starting off at 95% and working it's way down slowly.. as the heater warms slightly. all the trunks and branches are green.. I'm about ready to pop a window in there.. and kick them into gear..

Here's one the raccoons (armadillos?) knocked down. I just unwrapped it this afternoon. I wrapped the trunk and then over the "y." Bubbles were toward the trunk, and the wrap was about 6" wide. Wrapped fairly securely, so guess it lapped itself nearly twice. On all of them, I split the bottom of the wrap and made a 4" skirt at the base that I covered with mulch.
Edited to add:
The bubble wrap was a roll 12" wide. On most of the trunks, I split it, only using 4 to 6" to wrap. I used the 12" to cover and secure the y.

This message was edited Feb 27, 2009 5:16 PM

And here's the leaves on the y struggling to get out after leaving wrap on a little too long......

Last one... is one I covered as far up as possible. Everything above wrap died back. One to the left was covered, but hadn't "y'd" yet, so I only covered sturdiest part of trunk. Haven't trimmed it back yet (or cleaned up the beds). And smaller ones in background, I didn't cover...ran out of time and enthusiasm as the first freeze rolled in early December. I was more concerned about the freezing wind during the first freeze. Then I just got lazy and left the wrap on for a couple of months.
May not work for everyone. May not work for me next time, ....but they're looking pretty good so far....

What a great idea. I will try that for sure next year. I had to leave so many large ones in the ground I waited all year to get big enough to bloom and as soon as they started we got an early freeze. I don't want to wait a whole year again. I do have cutting in the garage so maybe that will help get some faster growth on those.

Those look like mine did with the bubble wrap last year.. leaves popping out all over when I took the wrap off! LOL They are eager to grow early when you wrap. You have nothing to lose when you try wrapping them. Don't know how mine did. We have 3 wrapped this year but have not checked them yet.. no visible green leaves yet but I don't expect to check for a couple more weeks.. temp is 29 right now here in Odessa. We have had day time temps up in the high 80's already and one 90.

That is what I should of wrapped my seedpods with this year lol!

I still have a couple that I haven't unwrapped in the back of the bed. In the fall, I discovered a few brugs that I didn't think had survived the winter before. They had just recovered and grew tall enough to see 'em. And then it was going to freeze again.... So I figured I'd have nothing to lose, so wrapped them. Hope yours make it too, Tammie. I was surprised to see a tiny ti plant growing under one of the brugs too. Some things must just acclimate.

I unwrapped mine yesterday... My snow white and texas pink look dead... I did not water enough this winter and we had NO precipitation... stupid me.. trying to save money because they base the sewer bill for the entire year on water usage in the winter! I try to skimp on water when I know I should not! We will see what comes from near the lower parts of the trunks.. I have not given up... the Harrenhause Garten.. the smallest at only 1 ft tall surprised me with tiny leaves about 2-3 inches up on the trunk! We did have temps as low as 12 this winter.... there is still a chance there is some life in the main trunks of those two.. they look a tiny bit green down in the larger areas.. will give them plenty of time... can't hurt. Of course.. they could always try coming up from the roots... root for them please!

I hope your Brugs come back.

Tammie..... I don't have any fancy brugs, but if yours don't survive, d-mail me and I'll let you know what I have and can share.

Thank you for the offer.. I have cuttings I started over the winter.. unfortunately, none of my texas pink ones survived! ... but I do have other things if these did not make it...

Well, I can hook you up with one that's rooted already! Gordon was kind enough to send a cutting a couple of years ago, and it laid down in a storm. Everywhere along that main trunk on the ground....standards sprouted up.

I could use a new Texas Pink... really loved that one.. I did very poorly last year... I had my doubts of it making it through the winter.. never even bloomed last year. I just barely managed to stay alive.

d-mail me to remind me and I can send it when I'm over the bronchitis DGS gave me

II am afraid I killed my Texas pink the other day. I forgot to open the greenhouse when I got called in to work early and I think some of them fried. They turned white all the way down. I cut into one and its white all the way through. Weird huh. Some others were affected and others look just fine. Hopefully some of the hurt ones will make it.

Yes.. I. left my door closed..as it was to rain... but it didn't.. and it got sunny.. and with it 40* outside... the converted insulated foam cool house... with the addition of lots of glazing.. that day became an oven.. up ot 116* F .. I've a rempte thermometer.. that talks wirelessly to the inside display.. running temp and humidity every 15 seconds.. and it also records the highs and lows for the 24 hours before.. so it was 116 there..no doubt.. but it was so early in them wakeing up for spring.... they were unphased.. My TexasPink was fine ...hope yours recover..

heat should not have done them in unless they were dry.. otherwise they shold be fine. It is the cold that will do them in.. my leaves turned white when the sun got them the first time.. they just turned white and died.. they are now putting out new leaves.

I don't really know what happened to them. I usually go out every morning but had a family emergency going on over the weekend while it was raining and cold but it didn't get below freezing. There was a lot of moisture built up in the greenhouse and my husband said they were all moist. When the sun came out the next day I had to go to work early and forgot to open it. After work they looked fried. I'll go out and get a pic of one that I haven't cut back yet. Its so weird the stems have bleached white areas in the middle of some of them and green above and below. Others are white all the way through with no green and some look wonderful. I truly don't know what happened. This is my first month or so with a greenhouse so its kind of a learn as I go thing. I know it got up over a hundred one day and nothing got hurt so it had to have something to do with all the moisture from the rain and cold and then the heat so close together. You can bet I have the exhaust fan set lower now if it gets cool enough at night to have to close it. Gonna put up shade cloth in a little while. The garage was much easier, lol.

Here is a pic of what happened. Do you think I should cut off the green parts and try to root them again or leave them alone and see what happens?

Fool 4 Flowers,
Give them some time before you do any cutting. They may surprise you with some unexpected growth. I've had my small greenhouse get hot when things break down without much damage to my plants. I think what caused the damage to your plants was a combination of high heat and sunlight. Were the fried Brugs in front of a west facing window?

Here in Texas a shadecloth is a must. Through trial and error, I've learned small greenhouses can give you a bigger headache than larger ones. I have had two greenhouses for 5 years now — an 8 X 8 X 8 (Used for orchids year round.) and a 20 X 20 X 12 (Used as a greenhouse in winter and as a shadehouse in summer.). The smaller one has greater fluxuations in temperature than the larger one. Vents are a must, either manual or automactic, and air circulation. A misting system of some sort will also help to cool things down.

I think you will have a lot more growth in that plant than you think.. give it time.

Thank you all. I hope they all live. It was some of better named ones. Yes I think they were getting hit from the west sun from the roof and windows. Here is a pic of the greenhouse. We built it over the winter and these were the first plants I put in there. Glad I didn't finish taking them all out there from the garage. I might have to put some bamboo blinds on the front windows if still gets too much hot sun for the summer. I only had one roll of shade cloth so I put it on the west side. Forgot the pic, lol.

This message was edited Mar 23, 2009 11:28 AM

Is there a way to put more than one pic? Oh, yeah I do have a little mist thing designed to go around the top of the patio porch that I never got put up last summer I was going to try putting it in there but have to figure out how to not blow out the water hose. I accidentally left it on the my spray nozzle attached one day and it blew a hole out of it, lol. Boy this sure is a learning experience. Do any of you have mist systems you can show me a pic of? I think I would like to try and make one from PVC and sprinker heads. The guy across the street installs sprinklers maybe he could help me. He says the mist heads get clogged fast here because we have so many hard water deposits here.

This message was edited Mar 23, 2009 11:33 AM

Your neighbor is correct. Charley's Greenhouse has some plastic mister heads are are supposed to be clogles, but if your water has as many minerals as my well water, they will probably clog as well. I have gone with the fogger shown on the right side in this link:
http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/index.cfm?searchflag=1&page=_search&s=foggers&PageNum_newsearchQuery=1&varShowPer_custom=12&varOrderby=ProductId&varSorting=ASC&varColumns=3&f=1&enter.x=0&enter.y=0&mtype=3
After spending a lot of time looking into getting some sort of misting system, this is the best I could come up with. There are no small mister holes to clog. I hope to get a small reverse osmosis system to use with the fogger this year. I saw some at Home Depot. The fogger on the left would push the fog a longer distance, but the water tubing in front of the fan is very small and would clog often. If the buildup of minerals in the tube were uneven it would unbalance the fan which would start to wobble.

How do you plan to heat the greenhouse in winter?

temps of 116 in greenhouses are not that high really .. as long as there is enough humidity.. I know plumeria plants love it.. I hear the people in california talk about temps like that all the time... it was not the temp/heat that got that plant.. it was the direct sun.. several of mine did the same thing when I moved them outside.. they are slowly starting to put out new leaves in places.. those look like glass windows.. that may be the problem. they magnify the sun. You just may need to put filters on the windows to reduce the sun from them so it does not scorch the plants.

My mother unwrapped her brug two days ago.. it is the one that started this brug wrapping fad two years ago... it made it again... has leaves 3 ft up the main trunk.. the areas above the Y still look dead but there are leaves right at the Y so she is still that far ahead of the game for the plant getting going for this year! Any growth above the ground is a success in my book! Especially since we did have a night get down to 12 degrees this year.

Way to go Tammie's Mom!!! ' Wondered where I had seen this idea...knew it wasn't mine. This year... let's try pipe insulation on the trunk, and bubble wrap on the y...... Got that one from the TX forum.....

Sorry I didn't mean to take over your thread. I am going out of town soon and trying to get this thing so it will be ok while I'm gone. The one plant isn't nearly as badly damaged as some of the others. I cut one and it was white all the way through with no green but I'm going to just leave them alone and see what happens. I know one day when it was warm and sunny before I moved the plants in it got up to 120 in there so there is no telling how hot it was the day I forgot to open it but I am thinking its the sunburn. The shade cloth helped a lot already and I thing I'm going to have to put some sort of filter over the front windows or cheap mini blinds or something. So glad the bubble wrap worked. I will be trying that next year for sure. I am tired of digging them up and replanting them. Most are coming back from down low on the stalk that I cut back on the inground ones but it would be even better to wrap the whole trunk and leave it in the ground. I will go check out that website. I need something to provide more humidity for sure. It gets dry in there fast. I used just a regular heater the past month but it didn't get below freezing after I put the plants in. Got close one night but this heater is definitely not enough. Going to get a propane one I think.

Don't worry about taking over the thread. I think we all learn something from others' experiences.

Yep, I was going to try the pipe insulation next year with the Y covered in bubble wrap. The pipe insulation would be a good fit and easier to do I think. Either way, those babies will be wrapped in something.