Late Spring Freezes

[KevinL]

Well, I botched it. I was planning on firing up the sprinklers 2 hours before the frost, which was scheduled for 1-2 AM. So I took a quick nap and woke up at 11 to find that the cold had come early, and frozen the sprinklers. It dropped 7 degrees between 10:30 and 11 according to the weather report. By the time I thawed the sprinklers and started my misting patrols, I think the damage had been done. I lost about 80% of my primary buds. Fortunately the vines closest to the sprinklers seem to have weathered the cold quite well.

So I can confirm, it does work. I just need to start things as the sun sets. Sunday is supposed to be 32 again. This time I'll be ready to protect what I have left.

 

[sour_grapes]

Sorry for your troubles. Glad you have a fighting chance at salvaging some of them!

 

[jenkinsr]

Well it looks like I lost about 25% of active growth. The vines furthest away from sprinkler suffered the most. A lot of buds have not yet opened and may or may not have been damaged. Without the sprinkler running it would have been much worse! It does work but 26 deg is hard to beat.

 

[Dennis Griffith]

I've lost some, but think I'm in good shape.

 

[CTDrew]

@jenkinsr You did really well for such a cold night. I bet you'll still end up okay once the temps moderate. It's been a cold spring here in CT too, lots of mid 30s for lows and a few nights right near 32.

 

[Dennis Griffith]

Well, at least I think we are past freezing. Cool and wet isn't really optimum either. We have some wet warm weather in the making currently as rain just drove me in doors. I have all the new vines in and am waiting to see if I need to replace any (crown galling). I treated all the new vines with Actinovate, which some have said will help with galling even though it's intended as a fungicide inoculant.

 

[wood1954]

I was taught to prune twice recently. First prune you leave canes with maybe 10 buds, then when frost danger is over you prune to just a few buds. Supposedly the buds closer to the cordon open up last so if the tips freeze you still have some viable buds.

 

[Dennis Griffith]

What type of trellis system?

 

[jandrew156]

It seems you guys may be luckier than I was... we had some really cold temps here in SW Pa, for 3 nights straight. I think one night it was 27. I wasn't able to do any sprinkler or wrapping... I tried plastic bags in the past and that didn't help at all. I saw your newspaper idea and I wish I would've seen that before the cold and I would've tried it. Right now, all of the buds are brown and dried up but there are a very few that are sprouting in other spots. Doesn't look good unfortunately. Par for the course here in 2020!

 

[Skashoon]

Your secondary buds may save the day. Same situation here just south of Cincinnati in northern KY. Mother’s Day is the guideline here. I held off transplanting the vines received from AA and NE Vine. Sure glad I did. Brought in my cuttings and put them on the heat mat until the freezing was finished. Got them from Bunchgrapes.com, trying to grow some breeding stock. Now preparing for mildew and Japanese beetles. Recent (and continuing) rains accompanied by rising temps will be challenging to stay ahead of the mildew. Anyone have a source for liquid lime sulfur around here, in hobbyist quantities? Like a quart to 1 gallon? I only need a small amount.

 

[Skashoon]

I'll have to use my 15 gallon tank sprayer. Wonder if a little left over copper solution will hurt anything?

I wouldn’t spray copper below 50 degrees. It can cause phytotoxicity on new growth. I say this because I have done it and lost around 25% of my leaves. I believe the instruction sheet mentions that on the container. Of course I didn’t read until afterwards, oops! Apologies for not mentioning the sooner, I’ve been a member for about two weeks and have been busy planting and spraying.

 

[KevinL]

Well, at least I think we are past freezing. Cool and wet isn't really optimum either. We have some wet warm weather in the making currently as rain just drove me in doors.

I'd say we're well out of the woods. Turns out some of my Petite Pearl primary buds were still buttoned up so they're looking good. That with the Itasca I saved should leave me a bigger crop than I had last year, assuming I can keep everything fungus free. Thanks for the help everyone. I certainly will try that newspaper idea next year on the vines that my sprinkler doesn't quite reach. That seems like it'll work really well.

 

[Dennis Griffith]

Now I just need to get some treatment going for the fungus I know is coming. And the copper was for peach trees, which need to be treated during dormancy to control leave curl. My tank has to do double duty and I have been known to leave a gallon or 2 of copper in when I start a batch for grapes.