Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Avoiding Frost Damage

We may have had the coldest night on record for May 14.  A frost advisory had been posted all day Monday already, so we knew it was coming.  Since our Chambourcin grapes had already formed tiny grape clusters, frost damage was a real concern, so we decided to monitor the temperature during the night.  (We used our high tech digital thermometer, which comes with a probe that is connected by a fairly long cable to the actual display and just hung it out the bedroom window, with the display on our nightstand).  Around 4 am, the temperature had dropped to 37 degrees, and Jeff went out to spray water.  He used the tractor with our sprayer, which had already been filled with water, and ran it through all the rows - twice.  By 5 am, clouds started moving in and the wind began to blow, at which point spraying more water probably would have done more damage than good.  We'll know in a few days if this worked - it was definitely worth a try. 

No comments:

Post a Comment