When An Unusually Early Frost Hits

What do you do when an unusually early frost hits and you didn't cover over your plants?

Upon discovering this early this morning, I poured water over our flowers, however, not the garden as the hose on that end was still frozen as the temperature also dropped to -1 Celcius which is just below 32F.

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In His Love, Mercy & Grace

Daryl Fawcett

[This message has been edited by Edward F. Sutton (edited September 07, 2000).]

Depends what's planted. Kole-crops improve with lite frost, tomatoes burn, some greens improve flavor with frost. The lite freezing of the plant tissues with the ice crystals forming in the cell walls exploding the tiny cells creates the burnt mushy look as they thaw. Wall O water type protection is good for tomatoes but large plants are hard to protect, try bed sheets the nite before or take a large watering can (with lots of small holes in the watering end) and wash off the frost quickly before the sun thaws it off more slowly. When the frost thaws by the sunshine it melts but also pulls extra heat as it expands then melts and cools the plant tissues further just enough to freeze them slightly. Very tender stuff is bye bye. Pick & process asap or it's compost. Carrot roots are fine when the tops frost-ditto most dirt protected root crops.

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Edward F. Sutton

One thing to consider, all you'all that like peppers (I prefer the sweet pepper varities).

If you trim the tops by 1/3 & dig them up and pot them, not only will they make a great houseplant but bare even heavier when they are set out next season.

They will do well (depending on how you treat them as a house plant), for three years for most pepper plants.

I've got some yellow, orange, green bell pepper plants & one or two pimento pepper plants. One great cool weather bareing pepper is the cubanelle. It did great right up till frost, when we lived nort of Mobile Alabama (USA).

It's almost time to bring my huge philodendron & poinsettas,palms, and bananas,avacodo, and peppers in for the season. I guess it's time to buy an extra grow light or two & rearrange the basement. It's A smalllllll basement.

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Edward F. Sutton