Scott,
I figure Mother Nature almost always wins so I am OK with her.
I am still upset when my fruit are destroyed or stolen by bugs/ animals, though.
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Good to hear Alan. I think most of my plums will be OK as well, a few losses I expect but most of the crop should be OK.
@mamuang I have the same attitude, its because I can do something about the animals. This year I am doing something about the deer, I got 5 more motion detector sprinklers and am going to create a more complete protection setup.
Scott, have you ever use water sprinklers or hoses to create a layer of ice on the buds to protect them? Or try a metal barrel and burn logs to give heat near the trees. I have heard this methods do have good outcome.
Tony
Tony, I looked into those methods but the amount of work is more than I wanted to put into it. If I had all the trees in one spot it would be more feasible but they are in half a dozen different spots. If these cold spells keep happening every year I may take a more serious look at it though. I had 12 years of apricots in a row before the last two bad years.
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Scott, ever wonder what the neighbors are thinking? 
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Probably wrote him off as a lunatic years ago- just for his “ugly” back yard. There went the neighborhood! I’m guessing he is in a suburban neighborhood where sod is religion.
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Yes I’m already well-known 
The headlamp at night is something everyone seems to notice - I do a lot of work at night since I have a job and I have a really strong headlamp so I can see what I am doing. Our house is at the neighborhood entry and everyone drives by and sees this crazy guy out there working late at night.
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I’m notorious for the plastic apple trees after I’ve bagged - people stop and stare
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They still smudge and fan the citrus in Valley Center and Pauma Valley.
I make my neighbors nervous every time they see me in a Hazmat suit 
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Mamuang,
I was gowned up in a lab bunny suit with eye protection and medical mask on to spray the second round of copper to cherries, poms, and stone fruits after that I also sprayed weeds killer. I am sure my neighbors and golfers think I am nut too.
Tony
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@tonyOmahaz5,
Do you live in a place that has a Housing Association?
They could give you a hard time 
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-31F across the border in Canada.
How many trees would you say were damaged by this cold?
The way the weather models keep looking…winter looks like it doesn’t want to let go around here for weeks. 12z gfs has near 0F here at day 10…after some snow. fun… Lots and lots of cold air bottled up in Canada.
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I paid the yearly due on time each year so the HA left me alone plus I have the last corner lot so they only can see me in the front once in a while.
Tony
Rob,
We are looking good here in Omaha for another 8 to 10 days and not sure after that.
Tony
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Snow cover here hasn’t helped on the temps. I think more snow might be in the cards too as we move down the road. Luckily March snow does not last around here very long.
Thick stratus here today and temp stuck at 51F. I put my plants out again. I have a few container stonefruit leafing out…a couple of the chip buds that took flowered…so i’ve had those blooms (i’ll remove them)…
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I was out looking at the damage, it looks like I also lost a fair number of Japanese plum buds. They were at tight cluster or first white, which is 16 and 22F respectively for 90% kill. Right now the damage looks to be quite variety-specific: the pure Japanese plums fared worse than the hybrids for example. Satsuma, Purple Heart, and Spring Satin look mostly gone, but the AU plums, Lavina, and Shiro are good.
I probably could have saved more if I got up at 5AM and kept the blowtorch going. The dead plum buds looked gone already this morning when I was warming them up, they were dark and drooping then already.
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That blows…luckily you grow a wide variety. Not much you can do when it gets that cold. Hopefully this is an anomaly and not some new normal.
What about your kiwis? Have they started growing? I ended up ripping mine out of the ground a few weeks ago and potting them up. The rabbits were gnawing them to nothing every winter and they were getting out of control in the summer.
Amen to that!
I think it is still too early for the kiwis to be bothered, there are no leaves showing. But I won’t be certain until they start pushing.
It was cold here last night, woke up at 12 degrees but everything looks pretty good so far. Warmed up to 40 today and expecting a warming trend until mid to late March.
@Sara_in_philly are you seeing the same?
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