Frosts, supercooling, and other fun stuff
J.E. Shields (Wed, 14 Nov 2007 05:30:54 PST)

Joe and all,

This discussion of Frost has been interesting. I am also puzzled by the
"protect from sun" argument. Here are my musings, trying to make sense of it.

Planting tender plants on the shady side of houses, hills, trees, etc.,
makes sense as was mentioned earlier by someone in this thread: Fewer
freeze-thaw cycles means less physical damage to the plant tissues.

The coldest temperatures seem to be reached shortly after the sun has risen
in the morning. I've watched this effect with my remote thermometers.

Joe accurately describes the effects of spraying with water. The watering
has to start before there is any freeze damage to the plants, of course;
otherwise it will not protect completely, but merely reduce the extent of
damage. This is the only point I can see to watering on a frosty morning
just before the sunshine hits the frozen surface; watering would have to
happen just as the freeze damage point is being reached to be
protective. Otherwise, there seems to be no physical chemistry sense to
the notion of watering just before the sunshine hits the plant, after the
freeze damage has happened. So I must assume it is "folklore" or non-urban
legend until someone can show me the physical chemistry to prove otherwise.

Best wishes,
Jim Shields
in central Indiana, where the frost is due again any day now.

At 10:42 PM 11/13/2007 -0600, you wrote:

*************************************************
Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA