You have plenty of water but the missing hour definitely could have allowed some damage. The accepted method is to leave the water running till ice starts melting rapidly. That's usually an hour or two after the sun is shining. I've had just as good of luck with undertree sprinklers for frost control as overhead down to 25F. Advantage is not as much limb breakage from a heavy ice load with undertree.
Bill Fleming Montana State University Western Ag Research Center 580 Quast Lane Corvallis, MT 59828 -----Original Message----- From: apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net [mailto:apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net] On Behalf Of Rye Hefley Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2014 4:50 PM To: Apple-crop discussion list Subject: Re: [apple-crop] Frost protection via overhead sprinklers made mattersworse? Thanks David will do! David Doud <david_d...@me.com> wrote: >slice some incipient fruit thru the equator with your thumbnail or a >knife - healthy fruit will have pearlescent ovules - damage will show >up as brown tissue - David Doud voice of experience.... > > > >On Feb 2, 2014, at 4:12 PM, Rye Hefley wrote: > >> >> >> Thanks Con, >> >> The spacing is one 360 degee nozzlee between each tree so each tree is hit >> from both sides. >> >> The ice is gone now and the flowers are still fragrant. The petals are a bit >> translucent. Stems are still green but may be too early to tell anything. >> >> Yeah I worry about the off hour. I guess wait and see. >> >> Again thanks. >> >> Rye >> >> ------------------------------ >> On Sun, Feb 2, 2014 10:11 AM PST Con.Traas wrote: >> >>> Hello Rye, >>> I am not very expert in this, as I don't use the system, so hopefully >>> somebody else can add more. Regarding the ice and icicles, these would not >>> necessarily mean you had a problem, as long as there was a coating of >>> unfrozen water on them at all times. This would prevent the ice from >>> dropping below freezing point. The fact that the water turned off could be >>> a problem though, as then there would have been no more unfrozen water, and >>> the ice (and buds encased therein) would drop to the ambient temperature. >>> 4gph sprinklers might not be adequate I suspect, or would not protect >>> against a more severe frost (it depends too on how close they are spaced). >>> When I looked into getting frost-protection irrigation for my orchards, the >>> water use would have been many times (perhaps 6 or 8 times from memory) >>> what I would have needed for soil mositure deficit irrigation only. I am >>> afriad that I can't shed light on what a good rate would be, but I bet >>> someone else here can. >>> The good news is I would be very surprised if your trees were damaged by >>> the ice. >>> Con Traas >>> Ireland >>> >>> ________________________________ >>> >>> From: apple-crop-boun...@virtualorchard.net on behalf of Rye Hefley >>> Sent: Sun 02/02/2014 17:01 >>> To: apple-crop@virtualorchard.net >>> Subject: [apple-crop] Frost protection via overhead sprinklers made >>> mattersworse? >>> >>> >>> >>> Hello, >>> >>> So last night there was a forecast for 29° for early this morning. Frost >>> NOT in the forecast. >>> >>> So I decided the forecast could change to frost while I was sleeping or the >>> forecasters could miss it so I scheduled the sprinklers. This was my first >>> attempt at frost protection as this is the first producing year for the >>> orchard. >>> >>> First concern: I set the time too short and the sprinklers turned off at >>> 6:30 (worst possible time). Don't ask me what I was thinking when came up >>> with the duration, though I have degree in math, I don't have one in >>> arithmetic. So it was off for an hour before I discovered it and turned it >>> back on. >>> >>> Second concern: using 4 gallon/hour micro sprinklers that produce a thick >>> mist, when I went out there at 7:30 the trees (flowers, leaves, wood, set >>> fruit) were encased in 1/4" ice and icicles. >>> >>> So I think maybe the 4GPH nozzles deliver too little water for frost >>> protection and just made it worse. Also being off for the worse possible >>> hour made it "worser" still. >>> >>> What would be your assessment on the damage I did this year? (Fortunately >>> only one variety that I care much about. The others haven't bloomed yet so >>> no water on those.) Will the trees survive the ice? Will the fruit that >>> already set be OK? Kiss the flowers goodbye? Will the new buds make it? >>> >>> If 4GPH is not sufficient, in the future what would be a better >>> delivery rate. (Assuming I could avoid the arithmetic error from now >>> on.) >>> >>> Thanks for your insights. >>> >>> Rye Hefley >>> So Cal >>> _______________________________________________ >>> apple-crop mailing list >>> apple-crop@virtualorchard.net >>> http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop >>> >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> apple-crop mailing list >> apple-crop@virtualorchard.net >> http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop > >_______________________________________________ >apple-crop mailing list >apple-crop@virtualorchard.net >http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop _______________________________________________ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop _______________________________________________ apple-crop mailing list apple-crop@virtualorchard.net http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
