AxisOfBeagles wrote:

Thanks Paul - I'll check this out.

It so happens that I live just up the hill from
the HQ of 'groworganic.com' (Peaceful Valley
Farm Supplies). I'll look through their site for
sugestions. I know they sell a spray on polymer
like stuff that supposedly prevents
transpiration, thereby reducing radiant heat
loss during a frost night.

Does the covering work?

I don't know.

I put in on this year for two days and nights
because the temps were supposed to get down to 25
degrees. It actually only got down to about 29
degrees one night.

I would talk to the people at groworganic. They
claim that a lot of grape growers use the
material. There are several grades of it.

I have a set of catch wires about a foot above my
cordon wire so I just draped it over these wires
and attached with those springy paper clasps. I
bought about 200 small ones at Staples fairly
cheap. The two ends did not quite reach the
ground but the people I bought it from said it
would still offer protection as long as it was
close to the ground.

I had a heart breaking season last year so I was
not going to take a chance this year. My bud
break is excellent this year.

I thought about
coverings, but it didn't make sense to my small
brain. as best I understand it, frost is the
result of radiant heat loss into sub-freezing
air, resulting in frost-bitten new shoots. does
the vine transpire enough heat that the cover
can hold in to prevent the frost freeze?
Curious.

Anway, I need to put in a sprinkler system this
next season. I'll problably lose the majority of
the primary shoots this year - which means a
less than 50% crop. &*^$@#&*$



On 2008-04-20 13:07:04 -0700, "Paul E. Lehmann"
said:

AxisOfBeagles wrote:

Anyone have additional thoughts on reducing /
eliminating frost damage?

Our vineyard is at about 2800' here in the
Sierra Foothills. April frosts, soon afer
budbreak, are an annual anxiety. Last night
was a cold one, and we've got some notable
frost damage this morning.

Tonight looks to be another cold one, probably
worse (no wind), so we're irrigating heavy
today, trying to get the soil around the vines
as saturated as possible in an atempt to try
and change the soil heat radiation profile as
much as possible.

Anyone use any additional frost protection
strategies? Sprinklers and fans are not
possible for us jst now ($).

I live in Central Maryland. Last year I took a
big hit from spring freeze so this year I
ordered a row of covering material from:

groworganic.com
(888) 784-1722

It was a 83 inches by 500 feet and the cost was
about $167.

They claim they sell to a lot of vineyards out
there in California.

I just have a small backyard vineyard of about
110
vines. It could get expensive if you have a
lot under production.