Congrats, that’s better than I ever did. You might be able to do even better by using clear bubble wrap completely encasing the plants… a mini insulating greenhouse. I was going to try that but never got around to it.
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OGW sells cold hardy ones.
https://onegreenworld.com/product-category/fruiting-shrubs/pineapple-guava/
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How did your plums do after the freeze? I’m in Annapolis, and we got down to 27 that night. It looks like there are a few plums developing on our three year old AU Rosa, but I was hoping for more. Not sure if it was the freeze or poor pollination. I saw a lot of bees working on the tree on the warm weekend that we had before the freeze, but there were only about three days between the first flower opening and all of the petals falling.
I lost a lot of plums but it looks like I will still need to thin as there is still too much. So I should get a good plum crop. It looks like there will be a few barren spots where all the fruitlets died. If you didn’t get many plums setting this year I would chalk it up to the freeze, it was a bad one. All the later fruits are looking good at least, peaches pears apples etc.
It turns out I lost some plants as well, one grape died back to the base and one fuzzy kiwi completely died (and two others died back to the bases). The pomegranate I have left looks like it will have to come back from the roots. Maybe half the fig growth is looking like it is sprouting and the other half is dead. This was a rough winter with one nasty kicker night at the end there…
My fuzzy kiwi are making a comeback after losing all the new growth. Peaches and plums had a minor reduction. Apricots are a total loss and cherries are severely reduced.
Do they come back from the roots?
Usually they come back, sometimes above the graft sometimes below. The one that completely died has a dead root as well.
The ones that were budding and got frozen out are all coming back now. Most of them lost something like 80% of the new growth in the freeze; only a few kiwis lost all the new growth and they are also re-budding now from secondary buds. I will still get kiwis since many of the 20% shoots have blooms on them.
Looking so far like I lost all but one (Adriatic JH) of my 7 year old figs: Battaglia Green; Takoma Violet; Ronde de Bordeaux; Malta Black. C’ est la guerre. Will give them til June 1 to sprout although I remember Barkslip saying always wait til end of June for any “dead” tree to sprout.
Is that the result of the spring freeze two weeks ago? Or from a winter temperature dip that killed the figs while dormant?
My figs are just starting to sprout now. When the winter is bad they can be really late to come out. I had thought they all may be dead a few weeks ago. @Ahmad this is due to the winter not the freeze, there was nothing out at the freeze period.
For me it looks like good old Celeste did the best, and Brunswick (I think) also is sprouting well. The rest don’t look so good.
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@hambone I wouldn’t worry about the figs. I can’t even count how many times I’ve seen figs die to the ground over the years. They always come back and I think only one has ever actually died. I tried to intentionally kill one once and you would be surprised how hard the roots are to kill.
@scottfsmith I’ve been thinking of using those foam pipe insulators to wrap kiwi trunks with over the winter. What is your opinion? Looking mostly to keep the wind chill down more than warmth.
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I cant see how the foam would work. The foam is preventing heat from moving from one area to another. But if there is no heat in the first place its just acting like a vapor barrier. Unless there is latent heat in the wood for some reason…
Was looking more at keeping the cold winds off. Wind chill is often much colder. I’m doubtful it would really help.
Could just give it a shot. If the plant would normally die back to the ground you may be able to save a few trunks. Or it doesn’t and it dies back like normal.
It was the 7 degree winter low and long stretch of temps just above that.
Thanks Robert. I must have an exposed location as I have had winter outright kill Adriatic JH and Brown Turkey here in the past. Looking on the bright side, any vacancies I plan to fill with Campaniere, White Madeira, Brooklyn White. I just planted Green Michurinska and Hative d’ Argenteuil this Spring so they escaped winter damage. And I overwintered Prosciutto Unk in a pot. I’m crazy about the Adriatic class strawberry jam taste.
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Yes, I remember that cold spell, and remember you commenting something along that it will be a test for your unprotected figs.
I have four in ground figs: Adriatic JH, RLBV, Smith and RDB; I cover them in the winter. All came in good shape in the spring, with minimal tip damage except RDB which probably lost 80% of its wood. RDB seems to have very little winter hardiness.
I too am crazy about Adriatic JH and its sisters, that’s why I am keeping it even though it ripens its crop at the end of October for me, and the figs are not of the top quality as those that used to ripen in mid September at my old property in Delaware. Every year I consider removing it and planting an earlier fig, yet it’s a very hard decision for me…
I gave up on the strawberry figs, they were dying back too much and not productive by frost. RDB is also not hardy so I got rid of that one. It’s still hanging in there, I prune it to the ground a few times a year but it’s not dead yet.
Oh Bari is one more that looks super hardy for me… no dieback on it. The Hardy Chicago right next to it looks like it completely died back.
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My kiwis generally do ok, have you had some die back? Only the weak ones in my orchard don’t sprout well the next spring. So I see no reason to do anything.
Ahmad could you pls summarize your winter protection method? I wrapped them their first three years then gave up as they got larger.