Citric Acid is ($1.90 ) pound wholesale in 50 pound bags.
Is very readily available, 100% organic.
Doesn’t have any negative side effects.
(1/4) teaspoon per gallon, treatment to all branches & fruit spurs 2 weeks before desired bud break is very effective.
Treat weekly until bud break.
A 50 pound bag makes 2,850 gallons of treatment for $95.
Probably your cheapest most effective option.
I will certainly give that a try! Heck I have a bag of that stuff in the pantry I use for preserving food.
This particular tree has a history for winter hardiness. It came from a 60-years old chance sapling in upstate New York, so it has put up with zone 3 weather and survived just about any disease that region can throw at it. Heck this past winter we had a wind storm that lasted for days with temperatures south of -10F and not a single branch tip show it noticed. In addition the winter of 2012 in Ithaca NY had a late cold snap that obliterated most of the apple production in the region, the tree production was not affected.
This wouldn’t happen to work on grapes?
Thanks again, up here in Alaska often we need all the tricks we can get a hold of.
This works on all species.
The number of grow days gained will vary as well as the number of degrees of non dormant cold tolerance.
Magnesium Citrate & Magnesium Chloride act as a mild anti freeze.
Citric acid dramatically increases stem cell assimilation of calcium & cell division rate under cold conditions.
Apples can tolerate (1/8) teaspoon of Calcium Chloride 9.6pH per gallon.
Grapes & many other species are damaged by Calcium Chloride, but not Magnesium Chloride.
In arid environments Magnesium Citrate can be used for early blooming.
Citric acid causes faster maturity as Calcium is a catalyst for Ethylene production.
There are almost 24,000 Vitis Vinifera cultivars, plus Vitis Rotundifolia, plus Vitis Labrusca, plus other grape species, 79 vitis total I think.
Most are Vinifera.
Citric acid very safe for all Vitis.
But Calcium Chloride is not.
And Magnesium Chloride should not be used in Zones 8, 9 & 10 on any Vitis.
Zones 4, 5, 6 & 7 are okay for Magnesium Chloride 7.3pH on grapes.
Magnesium Citrate is even safer than Magnesium Sulfate for grapes in all environments!
Same thing with Citric Acid.
(1/4) Citric Acid 3.2pH is safe for almost all plants, all species.
Some species can tolerate up to 1 full teaspoon per gallon of water. Yet other things will scorch at 1 full teaspoon, But only the tissues directly in contact with the mist would scorch, not the full plant.