hard freeze

Anonymous-0 · May 27, 2008

Calling for a possible hard freeze tonight. Aside from gardens, will it cause damage to the field corn or beans, or vegetables that are up 2 or 3 inches or so? How hard does it have to freeze to damage them?

Steven f/AZ · May 27, 2008

For field corn, I have seen the plant turn black from a frost and still come back. Don't know what the temp was, but I'm thinking it got down to the mid-20's at one point. I was told as long as the growth point of the corn plant isn't damaged, it will come back.

I would cover the garden with blankets - at least that's what Mom and Grandma do for any frost.

Howard H. · May 27, 2008

I've seen corn 3 inches tall get frozen flat and come back fine.

Cotton for example, though, is just looking for some excuse to die when young.

I'm no botanist, but think it has to do with where the growing point is in each plant at the stage of damage....

Howard

Mike (WA) · May 27, 2008

I realize you are talking about field crops, and I defer to greater minds than mine on that, but I decided to see how long I could keep my garden tomatoes going many years ago, and put a heavy tarp over them every night it looked like frost (I hadn't staked them, so they were on the ground). We had many hard freezes, and I finally abandoned the project in mid-November simply because I was getting awfully tired of eating tomatoes. This was before the advent of "blue tarps"- mine was a heavy canvas arrangement- so don't know how it would work now.

Chris in MO · May 27, 2008

We've used a variety of covers for garden crops, both in spring and fall. From my experience nothing plastic will help frost sensitive crops unless it is somehow suspended above the crops. Any leaves, etc touching the cover will get burned from the cold going through the plastic.

Sorry to hear about the freeze warning and hope things go well for you.

Christopher

LenND · May 27, 2008

Talk about cold! We had a record low of 28 this early morning. The old record was 29. Kind of cool for this time of year.

LenND · May 27, 2008

Talk about cold! We had a record low of 28 this early morning. The old record was 29. Kind of cool for this time of year.

LenND · May 27, 2008

Talk about cold! We had a record low of 28 this early morning. The old record was 29. Kind of cool for this time of year.

LenND · May 27, 2008

Hey! I didn"t know there three of me. Sorry about that.

Anonymous-0 · May 27, 2008

The 'growing point' of corn is still in the ground when the plant is 2-3 inches high- no problem with freezing. Soybeans- whole different matter- if the plant has emerged, it is subject to frost. Temp- 28 degrees for 4 hours will do it.

hard freeze

Anonymous-0

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Steven f/AZ

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Howard H.

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Mike (WA)

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Chris in MO

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LenND

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LenND

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LenND

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Anonymous-0

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