For those experiencing these brutal temps, I just wanted to say you’re in my heart and prayers and I hope you and your family (and your fruit trees/bushes!) make it through this ok. Many of you are facing seriously dangerous temperatures and really feel for you. Those I read about without electricity- well that is just life threatening combined with these temps! As someone who had my basement water lines break in 6 different places last winter, I also hope you don’t have to deal with that- don’t forget to leave those faucets dripping and cabinets open and so on.
This is just brutal- I would think even wildlife would struggle in temps of -25 and colder!!! Take care of those pets too. Not sure what else to say but this kind of weather is just a bit scary and unsettling and I worry about some of you folks.
BTW, here on the KY/TN border, about 25 miles north of Nashville, we are at a balmy 15 degrees ABOVE zero- nothing at all serious. Good luck to the rest of you.
OH…if you are all safe and sound in spite of the extreme cold, how about someone post the obligatory video of warm water thrown in the air and freezing b4 it falls! ha
-23 and -35 windchill before midnight and then it’s going to go to -23 windchill at midnight and head toward -20 for the morning windchill.
Dogs paws get ice in them quickly in this kind of weather so you need to watch your dog every second they’re outside. If they get ice between their paws they simply stop moving which I assume is for fear of breaking their legs. So you gotta watch them closely at all moments.
I covered my 3 potted peach tree’s with plastic and put a light in just to be on the safe side. My 2 outdoor peach tree’s are completely buried in leaf piles and covered in snow, so, hopefully they’ll make it. Almost noon, sunny, and it’s still only -26.
Just north of Minneapolis about 20 minutes. Not sure what it bottomed out at last night, but tonight is supposed to be even colder. I’ve had it hit -30 in my yard in past years, but I don’t remember ever seeing it this cold in the middle of the day. Your PAF will probably be toast, they can’t handle much below 10F. But you have a long growing season, the primocanes will come up from the roots and give you a nice crop this late summer and fall.
Ok…i remember you have done this in the past? I buried as good as i could a few trees…but most of what i have outside is exposed… i still have my potted trees to hopefully produce fruit.
-26F in Cedar Rapids, Iowa this morning. Right now at noon it is -16F. That is the coldest I can remember it being mid-day. Usually we get radiational cooling to get the -20F temps, but wind was howling here as it was where @warmwxrules is.
It is supposed to be colder tomorrow: -31F is the forecast low.
No trees in my yard now, so nothing to be damaged. I hope the trees I moved last spring to a temporary site will survive since it is about 40 min south.
I’ve been trying different forms of tents to protect my in ground peach tree’s unsuccessfully since 2013. Last year, I buried one branch in leaves and got peaches for the first time from just that one branch ( I’ve gotten a lot from potted tree’s kept in the garage). This fall I completely buried a Reliance and Contender in leaves. I hope it does the trick.
I’ve got you to thank for all the peaches I have managed to produce. You gave me the idea of keeping potted tree’s in the garage all the way back on the GW forums.
I’ve heard of pruning a peach tree to stay close to the ground, then covering it with leaves. Maybe I will try that. I actually ordered another Contender to get enough for free shipping in a moment of weakness. I had told myself never to try planting peaches any more after losing several trees. I’ve also heard piling on leaves can encourage mice, so trap well. Klondike, what varieties of peaches do you keep in pots?
Yeah…i’m still perfecting that method! I will give this tip learned last year…don’t leave them inside garage too long in spring…i think what happened last year is they got so dried out in there that lack of moisture killed them. I should have got them out earlier and got some water on the roots.
I’ve done great with Blushingstar, after a few years of good production it was getting pretty root bound and yields were dropping. I wanted another but Starks was out, I currently have 1 Redhaven and 2 Elberta in pots.
I checked my order history, the 2 Elberta’s were standard (they were on sale for like 8 bucks). I figure being in a pot (half whiskey barrel), will have a dwarfing effect anyway. The Blushingstar I had great success with was a dwarf.
-16F here… the main channel of the Mississippi River was mostly ice covered this afternoon…Either some blowing snow downriver or maybe “smoke” from open water…lots of current through this stretch and doesn’t stay frozen very long//only during very cold stretches. I wouldn’t walk out there.
