So I just opened mine up to have a look and to my surprise it was noticeably warmer inside. Maybe by 20 degrees as fruit it mentioned. I pulled a bud and cut it in half and it was definitely alive and viable. Nice and green. So I’m pretty happy how this worked out. I am concerned about wind and this big snow people are talking about. I would hate for the wind to bowl so hard that it tears the tree up.
Here is a pic that I just took.
I went out yesterday and dumped the snow off of my tarps, it was getting heavy fast. Was a little surprised how much snow there was but it was sticking on elevated surfaces much more than the ground.
Your protection is quite well covered. Hope you won’t have to deal with wind gust we have had. Good luck.
When the sun is shining you have a greenhouse. I’ve cooked fruits that way with a shelter I built back in the 70s.
I turn my light off once I feel the sun is high enough, and like Fruitnut said if it is sunny at all the temp can soar inside so once its warm enough, if the sun is out, I open the top as well so the heat doesn’t build up.
I know a couple years ago we had a -30F night and inside my tent which was over 3 small trees, 2 peach 1 cherry, it was +8 when I checked it in the middle of the night. 6 mil plastic with one 500 watt halogen work light. I think it helped that there was a lot of snow cover at the time (like, 2-3 ft) which sealed up the bottom nice so no cold air could get in.
For a lot of us backyard hobby orchardists if we can figure out a simple reliable way to protect just one or 2 trees we can really get a decent crop for our families even in bad years when we lose a lot of our other tree fruit. . .
Since the sun came out I turned off the light and opened the top a bit. Outside temp is 35 now. I’ll button it back up this evening.
I work at a factory that makes landscaping fabric. Years ago when my trees were small I sewed tents out of the stuff for late spring freezes. It worked very well. I only used them for a couple years once the trees got too big. I still have the tents and now have a few small trees. I may pull them out.
They are forecasting 27F Wednesday night. I have blueberries in bloom, huckleberries with pea sized berries, pears with dime sized pears and plum trees in bloom. The citrus is all flushing out. I will put the incandescent Christmas lights back in the to the citrus and cover them. The pears and plums are way too big to cover and there are just too many blueberries and huckleberry bushes to cover. I plan to spray the uncovered trees down with water Wednesday night once about supper time, once just before I go to bed and again at about 5 am and then the last time before I go to work at 8. Maybe the freezing water will keep things about the 28 or 29 which would probably be just barely warm enough to prevent a terrible loss assuming temps don’t go any lower than forcasted. God bless.
Marcus
