This is Why Your "Cold Hardy" Fruit Tree Froze to Death (and 6 Ways to Keep Your Next Tree ALIVE!)

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Күн бұрын

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@GrandmomZoo 2 ай бұрын

❤ I am off to make lil coats for my lil avocado and lemon youngsters still in pots. Plus, I built them a greenhouse of which my dogs and I can sit and hang out and fill water barrels and tuck them in during nights of cold. DTG did this to me ya'll. 😂

@glassbackdiy3949 Ай бұрын

Another one for the heatsink method, Sepp Holzer had citrus growing in the Alps by utilising big rocks/wall in a semi-circle around the trees with the Southern side open

@StefanSobkowiak Ай бұрын

Nicely done. I need reminders that cold for you is a frost. You can add a ground heat tube, or just a hole that goes down 4-6 feet under the tent. Bernie Nikolai uses them in his chillier -40F to -43 winter temps in Edmonton Alberta to get sweet cherries.

@davidthegood Ай бұрын

That is astounding.

@DanlowMusic 2 ай бұрын

1,140 views but only 229 likes. C'mon people. If you enjoy the content hit the like button. It doesn't cost anything. But it does help the channel.

@loves2spin2 Ай бұрын

My daughter has a hardy fig tree here in Indiana. When it was little, we put a wire fence cage around it and filled it with straw for the winter. No frost damage that year.

@FiberFiddle Ай бұрын

This worked as far north as Wisconsin for my mother.... Until a rabbit family used that straw as a nice warm home with free fig twig snacks. Don't forget to check on them sometimes!

@macropin Ай бұрын

Another tip. Use hot compost to keep light frost at bay. Works well in spring keeping exposed transplants warm.

@joshua511 Ай бұрын

Great idea!

@Gkrissy 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for these tips. Game changer of knowledge- cold hardy for mature trees. My lemon and lime tree died last year and they were potted. I plan to bring my other citrus inside my house to prevent freezing.

@melanielinkous8746 2 ай бұрын

Here in North Central Florida we had zero freezes last year, so my Papayas were loaded this year. Still are, in fact. Hoping for another mild winter. Blessings to you and your family, David.

@user-ic2ug8ys1z 2 ай бұрын

Tip#3- I've used with success. Push the Zone is one of favorite books. Thanks Dave. 😀🌱🐢

@williamvillar2519 Ай бұрын

I've lost a lot of cold hardy trees. Still don't have anywhere to babysit them for a couple years until it is safe to plant them. I use the water barrel method and it works. If it's really windy, some branches get exposed and they die. It's the multiple days of being below freezing that has gotten mine every time.

@FloridaGirl- 2 ай бұрын

i just purchased incandesent christmas lights off Amazon a month ago. To have in my “just incase box”. We did have a frost here in SW FL in 2022. I haven’t seen incandesent lights in store for awhile. Was happy to get 4 strings of the big bulb lights.

@margaretmarshall3645 Ай бұрын

Nice job! I have found mini incandescent bulbs at Home Depot. But then I learned from the Millennial Gardener that the larger bulbs do a better job for this purpose.

@Ezmoshe1 Ай бұрын

David the Good, this is a GOOD video!! Appreciate your insights into all the wonderful natural creations around us

@davidthegood Ай бұрын

Thanks

@thatguychris5654 2 ай бұрын

Tip #6 is the real deal! I use this method, though smaller, to extend the season on my bucket potatoes by 2 to 4 weeks! 6 to 8 five gallon buckets in a tight circle, 1 gallon jug of hot tap water in the center, and a cheap sheet draped over a short center pole and everything else. This works until a hard freeze lasting more than one night. I might have to do this for a new fig tree I planted, although hardy one zone colder than me, I won't take my chances with a harsh winter.

@deecooper1567 Ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing your tips 👍👵🏻❣️

@diananazaroff5266 2 ай бұрын

Huh. I guess I'm smarter than I thought, lol. I've used all of your suggestions except for the barrel of water. Millennial Gardener uses the barrels and has his in the ground (SC zone 8) and he gets TONS of fruit each year. I currently have 7 potted citrus - Grapefruit, Meyer lemon, Satsuma, Washington navel, blood orange, mandarin and a juice orange - and have had them for about 10 years or so. The last few years I've left them outside all winter (GA, zone 8a) and have only had one fatality - the Key lime (which was the least cold hardy of them and never produced fruit anyway). Last year I chickened out when the 17 degree weather hit and brought them in. I repotted this past summer and was surprised at how shallow the root systems were. The root balls didn't really even go to the bottom of the pots. I put them in a full sun spot and they did terribly. I moved them to a dappled sun area and they perked right back up. I didn't end up with a lot of fruit this year and I'm debating putting them in the ground. I'm just not sure where to put them and I have terrible results with fruit trees in ground (I kill most of them). Every year I learn something new. This coming summer, if I don't put them in the ground, I'm going to put them in a spot that gets morning sun and afternoon shade and see how they do. If I can get the greenhouse built, they're going in there.

@TrawickEllisAvastRealty 2 ай бұрын

I’m definitely going to be using the barrel idea this winter. A plus is I can stick some poles to it or in it to make a tent for the frost cloth for the bigger trees.

@takeitslowhomestead5218 2 ай бұрын

Thank you, Mr. the Good, for this valuable information and inspiration! I have three young fruit trees and one barrel (so far) that I will add a sheet to, cross fingers, and add daily prayer this winter.

@oneperson5760 Ай бұрын

Thank you!! Zone 9a, i built a lean to greenhouse with cattle panels and hoophouse plastic on the south side of my house. Local feed store sold black plastic olive barrels. Theyre in there full of water. Going into our second winter and everything is fine so far.

@ursamajor1936 2 ай бұрын

Great information. I also love, and frequently refer back to, your book, Push the Zone. I grow 14 varieties of citrus, coffee and tropical vines and tubers. They overwinter in my unheated sitting room after I trundle them in on a platform dolly.

@Green.Country.Agroforestry 2 ай бұрын

You can paint festive patterns on the sheets, so that the lamp illuminates them .. EVERY tree is a Christmas Tree! 🌳

@juliehorney995 2 ай бұрын

Excellent. The key is keeping the tree alive those first few years! A blanket, thermal mass, and hoses will freeze solid here midwinter in NE Indiana, 6a. Incandescent bulbs in a shop light gives us an extra month under 6 mil plastic cover. Barrels help only in the shoulder seasons when the sun is warm enough to warm the water in the barrels painted black.

@obadiyah2124 2 ай бұрын

I'm Zone 6B with an olive tree that is getting too big for her britches. I'm tired of hauling her in for the Winter. Pray for us. Lol.

@paddy6358 Ай бұрын

I’m in 6B, too. Get a friend to help you haul it in.

@TheSquidworm Ай бұрын

Can you put it outside under the house eaves and cover it with a sheet on nights when you're expecting a frost?

@ChivoXL909 2 ай бұрын

I have my citrus in containers in 6b and would keep them in my garage for the first couple of years until we had a polar vortex and got hit with -10 degrees. Lost my Guava, Kishu, and Mexican sweet lime but surprisingly my 3-year-old WA Navel survived. It lost all its foliage and the branches themselves died back a bit, but it grew back bigger and now I can barely move it in and out of my house will need to get a dolly next year for me to move it out in the summer.

@davidthegood Ай бұрын

I have thought about putting some big pots on wheels.

@ChivoXL909 Ай бұрын

@@davidthegood The Dollys I am planning to get are 1.5-inch tri-wheel steel 200 lb capacity for around 8 dollars each from harbor freight, if they work out then I might get higher quality ones in the future.

@bowtielife Ай бұрын

When we moved into our new home 3 years ago we had a beautiful 30-year-old pink grapefruit tree that gave me 280 pounds of fruit. In 14 months we got those record low 18 degree F temps Christmas 🎄 of 2022 and killed it! Once replaced i will have sheets ready at any time for future use!

@davidthegood Ай бұрын

Yeah... that killed my friend's grapefruit too. So close!

@margaretpickholtz8772 Ай бұрын

this was great David, from a Broward County ite. Thanks. We donPlay with fire too much down here, but sometimes taking a chance is tempting so advice is nice to have!

@rachaelyounger5657 2 ай бұрын

Your book is on its way to me! I planted out 2 papayas last spring. Zone 8b here, but we usually do get ice in Feb sometime. One papaya has grown to nearly 6 ft all as of today! The other is about 5 ft tall. I plan to cut them off at 3 or 4 ft, put a cage around them and fill the cage with wood chips. We'll see! I have two texas laurals to put in those spots if the papayas kick the bucket this winter (if we have winter, bot looking likely at this point). And if they survive, I'm getting bananas in the spring 😅. I have a tropical hybiscus that is so unhappy in its pot, maybe next spring i put it out under one of the big cedars.... If these papays survive. The two papayas are also on the south side of the house. I'm all about pushing boundaries!

@sjoerdmhh 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for all the advice! Might use the water bucket method this year to keep my Ugni molinae from freezing back to the ground (and therefore not producing any fruit). For me it helps to realise that cold doesn't actually travel, it isn't the cold of the night sky coming down on your tree, but it is the warmth from your tree radiating out into space. Cold is the absence of molecular vibrations (warmth), not a thing that can spread.

@Mary-z7x 2 ай бұрын

Awesome tips thanks for sharing

@prubroughton1864 2 ай бұрын

Also don’t plant at bottom of slope cold air rolls down hill giving a significant temperature differential. Still moon lit nights are usually coldest

@davidthegood 2 ай бұрын

Definitely. Good advice.

@rhinothumping 2 ай бұрын

Pots and greenhouses here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. You just have to remove the snow from the greenhouse roof or it’ll probably collapse.

@GodExplained 22 күн бұрын

I’m a big fan of just growing things that can handle your weather outright, and only having to protect the little trees if a 1x20 years frost happens that year. If that’s the case, then get frost blankets and some hay and protect them that way

@sashaarr7122 Ай бұрын

Thank you so much. God bless you and your family

@RiversnRootsOutdoors8 2 ай бұрын

Great video Dave! Cant wait to be back south! God bless yall!

@mariespencer8668 2 ай бұрын

Thank you for tips. I would like hardiest citrus in Tacoma. We have a nursery..Restoring Eden, that sells such.

@nuh.al-oklahomi Ай бұрын

I’m at 6,500 feet here in the desert at a faint zone seven and I’ve had two pomegranates right up next to some big rain barrels and the only damage I’ve ever had was on one that was minimal and exposed to some nasty eastern winds. I’m hoping for fruit soon.

@kagfish 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for the advice! I've lost "cold hardy" trees already, though zone 5 wasn't hardy enough... The thick blanket of snow wasnt enough. I'll bring my baby mulberries inside this winter

@FrogRogers 2 ай бұрын

Gonna use a cattle panel and make greenhouses on my lemon. David does it take 3 to 4 years for figs to build this coldness tolerance? Great little video. thanks

@davidthegood 2 ай бұрын

Figs can live into zone 7, they just freeze down and grow back, fruiting later in the year.

@loquat4440 2 ай бұрын

I have purchased a Chicago hardy fig and I will see how it does. i had a fig completely killed by cold. Perhaps since it was young some mulch might have helped.

@shalomtoday 2 ай бұрын

On a comment to a video of a different YT channel, someone indicated when overnight lows approach the mid-40s, they stack circles of chicken wire around their fig trees and then put straw inside of them. In the spring they remove the chicken wire when the average danger of frost is gone and spread the straw further around the base of the fig tree. This method preserves the fig tree's ability to produce a breba crop.

@stephaniemoore-fuller9082 2 ай бұрын

I am in 8b, but my 8b is a bit different from your 8b, as I’m in the Portland OR area. Our winters are WET and though we sometimes have some snow or ice, it never stays around for long, and the ground never freezes solid. I have a fig in a pot indoors that I hope to plant out next spring, so some of these tricks may be helpful next year. I know this particular fig grows well here, as I grew mine from a cutting of a local tree.

@davidthegood Ай бұрын

That is a good test - knowing it grew locally already gives you a much better chance of success.

@derekclawson4236 2 ай бұрын

Just put a Fantastic avocado in this year. Already fairly sizable at 5ft or better tall. Killed the first one due to root rot in thick soil planted at ground level. I will protect it if it drops below the higher 20s. I've definitely use the sheet method every years for something especially since I'll grow mustards and such in the dead of winter. Definitely strung up stuff with Christmas lights and with the sheets on top. However the water barrel method with sheets I feel works the best and doesn't cost nearly anything. Pretty much doing that from now on for young trees for real hard freeze events. Locals say mid teens here once every decade or better but I've experienced mid to high teens 3 times already in the last 7 years here in the FL panhandle. Plenty of mid 20s nights here no doubts.

@reginacarroll8149 2 ай бұрын

Thank you for the information 🙂

@smithpianoservicing3421 2 ай бұрын

Going to try this with the little volunteer avocados all over my yard from the compost that was mixed in.

@Franciso-so1bg Ай бұрын

I learned you could put a smaller container of salt water (that doesn't freeze) inside the larger buckets of water to help keep the larger container from freezing. I put a quart milk jug of salt water inside a 5 gallon bucket to keep the chicken's water from freezing.

@snell0710 2 ай бұрын

I’m gonna try that barrel trick awesome ideal

@KalebAukurst 2 ай бұрын

in alabama zone 7b you cant grow any citrus except some satsuma varities in the ground.they have to be in greenhouse. we always have a flash freeze in december or january. only exception is bitter orange on flying dragon rootstock with massive thorns. i have one lived through all of it.

@candyfarnsworth238 Ай бұрын

Zone 7. Lost a brown turkey fig in -9 last winter

@Morganistas Ай бұрын

For a north FL food forest that I only tend to twice a week, could I do a hands off method like caging and using straw?

@1DwtEaUn Ай бұрын

Cover with sheet and mist the sheet once you hit or drop just below 32F / 0C

@babetteisinthegarden6920 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for the info

@shotgunbettygaming 2 ай бұрын

Do you leave the sheets on all day and specifically choose white/light colored fabric or do you uncover them during the day to get what direct light is available?

@davidthegood 2 ай бұрын

We keep them covered while temps are below freezing. Color does not seem to matter.

@vginnmusa3128 Ай бұрын

Knowledgeable hikers/campers say to make shelter under a tree canopy because it is just a little warmer there.

@sixfigurebookkeeper7588 2 ай бұрын

Cool! Thanks!

@andreiturrian7455 2 ай бұрын

5 is a good one

@DanlowMusic 2 ай бұрын

My citrus is small and in my greenhouse for now. Last year I pulled my one lemon tree in the house because it was getting down to 19°. I shocked it, it dropped its leaves looked like it was dying. I brought it back but no flowers or fruit this year though.

@lorenbush8876 Ай бұрын

How about if you put a cylindrical fence around the tree/bush, the place a larger cylindrical fence around that and fill it with grass clippings with about a 6" layer of grass over the whole thing after you put boards or something solid to cover the opening of the inside cylinder or the whole thing? Do you think that would be enough in zone 7b to keep it from freezing? I'm trying it on some fire bushes which come back from the roots in the spring when it warms up enough but I thought it would be nice for them to just resume growing when it gets warm enough. I also am just covering my sugarcane stumps/roots with grass. I am also doing a Meyer lemon seedling in the ground and a pomegranate to see if that is enough protection, it would be best with a climate controlled structure of some sort but I don'y have that, I'm taking all my trees that I don't want to take a chance on in the house. Thanks David.

@davidthegood Ай бұрын

You know, you could experiment. That is ambitious, though!

@dorothypastran2 Ай бұрын

👌 thank you

@jamesalanstephensmith7930 2 ай бұрын

Useful!

@soniamarshall9293 Ай бұрын

Can 5 gallon buckets of water surounding the tree along using sheets work when no 55gal is availabe?

@brockberrick2727 2 ай бұрын

David the GREAT

@SouthFloridaSunshine 2 ай бұрын

My sister told me.. lolol Great info as always. I think about moving more North but that word “freeze” is terrifying to the man I married 29 years ago. lol

@HeatherNaturaly 2 ай бұрын

I purchased 2 cherry trees that are tall stalk with a few branches on top( dumb.. I know) . I assume I can NOT trim them??

@evelynkorjack2126 2 ай бұрын

will you have any cranberry sorrel/hibiscus seeds to purchase this year?

@davidthegood 2 ай бұрын

Possibly

@lornabaker4039 2 ай бұрын

I really want to grow citrus, but in my area, we’d have to have a serious greenhouse. We get into the single digits or negative temperatures for weeks at a time some winters.

@kathleenebsen2659 2 ай бұрын

I’m in zone 6, gets down to -10*F here. I have grown citrus in pots successfully for years here. Bring the pots into your house before it freezes and place by a south or western facing window. Take outside again after your last frost date. I get fruit reliably every year. I have hardy trifoliate orange tree in ground and it fruited for this year. It is said to be hardy to -20*F. These are less desirable fruit and have a somewhat resinous taste but I find them fine for juice. There are many more cold hardy citrus fruit trees available such as yuzu and Owari mandarins. I can recommend Madison Citrus Nursery. They are certified. Good luck!

@Huntnlady7 Ай бұрын

I had an avocado tree that I covered with sheets and strung Christmas lights on; only problem is that avocados bloom in winter. I got very little fruit, so after a decade I just gave up.

@davidthegood Ай бұрын

That is tough