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Bubble wrap sheets for winter protection


Ed Askew

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I experimented with bubble wrap for winter protection and I think the experiment was largely successful so I thought I'd post this. I bought 2 large rolls of 1/2" bubble wrap on ebay. The sheets are 48 inches wide and the rolls were 125 feet long. I think I paid about $60 each for them. Of these I cut either 8 foot or 12 foot lengths, tied the sheets together with cable ties and made some 8x8 foot sheets and some 12 x 12 foots sheets. I used them to cover my Satsumas and sagos in South Mississippi zone 8A while I went on vacation for 2 weeks. The low during this time was 16.9 degrees F. In the past I have made frames of 20 foot lengths of 1/2 PVC pipe each 20 foot length arched over and the ends placed over 3/8 rebar pounded in the ground 8' apart at each of the four directions N, S, E, W to make intersecting arches which I taped together at the intersection at the top of the arches with duct tape and then threw a 25 x 25 foot sheet of frost cloth over that frame and anchored the edges of the sheets with large rocks. This worked more or less for several years the trees surviving temps down to 15 degrees and blooming the next year yeilding large enough crops of satsumas on 7 trees that I had to give away about a half a truckload some years. However I have failed to adequately prune the trees so that my best ones grew too large for the frames. Last year before the last polar vortex when it got down to 12 here I in desparation used some bubble wrap and large sections of geotextile to throw over the top of my biggest tree and then threw 2 sheets of frost cloth over that, and the tree suffered no damage and yeilded a large crop of the best citrus we've ever had this year. The trees I was able to protect with the frames suffered severe damage. One died, and the others were defoliated and didn't bloom last year.

Using the geotextile which is just cheap black felt, I could not leave this on for long as it blocks out the light. You can't just throw frost cloth directly over the tree as any branch it touches will be killed sometimes all the way to the trunk. So I thought that large bubble wrap sheets thrown over the tree would function like a frame, insulating the tree itself from the frost cloth. It worked. On my largest trees and my sagos I made 12 x12 foot sheets of bubble wrap and put them over the top of the trees. They didn't reach the ground. Over that I threw 25 x 25 foot sheets of frost cloth (you can buy large rolls of 25 foot wide frost cloth on ebay. Years ago I bought a 300 foot roll.) Anyway so far we only have gotten down to 16.9 degrees. No damage at all on my large satsumas. They would be ok without protection down to 21 degrees anyway. The sagos suffer damage at 24 degrees. They did have minimal foliar burn where there were gaps in the bubble wrap sheets, where two 48" sheets connect. It was very mininmal though. I used a 10 foot length of 1 1/4" PVC pipe into the end of which is screwed a 4" length of 1x1 pine as a tool to get the sheets up and over the trees. If you look closely you can see this tool leaning on my big satsuma. I took a picture of it today 2 weeks post freeze.

My smaller satsumas did have leaf damage on the tops, but the branches and the interior of the trees are o.k. They will probably bloom this year. I think I put too much strain on the frost cloth to try to keep the wind from blowing it off. Next time I will anchor the edges so that there is little strain and less compression of the bubble wrap which decreases the insulation factor. These small satsumas are small because they are a less cold hardy cultivar and have been severely damaged repeatedly.

Here are the sheets of bubble wrap and frost cloth drying out in my yard today:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b36/edaskew/dryingout_zps0f1993ca.jpg

One of my satsumas after being covered this way and the temp down to 16.9 F 2 weeks ago:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b36/edaskew/postfreezesats_zps8544fd09.jpg

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Thanks for posting, good detail! I guess the bubble wrap acts as a Greenhouse on steroids. At least you have a lot of air circulation under there. What Sabal species are along the house?

Pineapple Dan

Burlington, On. USDA Z6B

Canada

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The big ones are sabal palmetto, they were hurricane cut and planted 2007 and 2008. The smaller ones are sabal louisiana. They were out of one or two gallon pots most of them planted 2009 I believe. They are growing so fast and are so big I wonder if they aren't going to get bigger than the cabbage palms. One has a trunk almost 2 foot already. Hard to believe. I sent some pics to the guy I bought them from wondering if they weren't some other species (like burmudana maybe) since they were growing so fast, but then when it got down to 12 and they had no damage at all, I quit wondering about that. He tells me the seed for these palms came from Oklahoma.

I think the bubble wrap does have some greenhouse effect, but the purpose was to insulate the leaves from the frost cloth. I have measured a pre dawn gradient of 9 degrees over ambient under the frost cloth alone. Bubble wrap is a pretty darn good insulator. To improve the greenhouse effect I need to close up the gaps between the 48" sheets with some more cable ties. I probably need 2 layers of bubble wrap over the sagos. If we get anything under 15 degrees I bet one layer will prove to be inadequate for them. Our average seasonal low since I've lived in these parts has been 19, and I'm hoping we've seen the coldest temps for this winter.

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Awesome Ed, thanks, once established, the Cabbage Palms could compete with T.Fortunei for hardiness. My Palmetto is only 14' OA, and planted at 12' a couple of years ago from container. I'm not sure I can plant a hurricane cut in my climate, I need more roots in the ground.

I guess the bubble wrap also contributes to insulate as a wind barrier, as the frost cloth tends to breath and accept a bit of wind chill. I like your idea of finding that size frost cloth on-line. I've spent too much already on rolls from the Home Improvement store.

I think (Knock on wood) the worst is behind us, however, we never know, we still have Feb to deal with...

Pineapple Dan

Burlington, On. USDA Z6B

Canada

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  • 1 month later...

I use the same thing on my palms here in Iowa...

2 sheets of 1" bubble wrap with a layer of foam

wrap between so they dont get excessivly hot...

SAM_0150_zps2epoka7a.jpg

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