Our grandparents still remember those times when the climate was stable and fairly predictable, winter was snowy and frosty, spring was warm, summer was hot and there was sufficient rainfall, and in the fall crops from the gardens could be harvested until the end of October. Today, unfortunately, weather surprises cause many problems for gardeners.

Spring frosts can significantly damage fruit trees and shrubs, seedlings of heat-loving crops, flower beds and flower beds. The quantity and quality of the harvest suffers from them, and people who grow vegetables and fruits at a professional level suffer significant losses. In order to withstand this natural anomaly, you must be able to determine the time of onset of frosty weather and be thoroughly prepared for it. In this article we will talk about methods and means of protecting plants from frost, which can occur even in late spring.

What kinds of frosts happen and how to predict them

In order to understand how to fight it, you need to “know the enemy by sight.” Science divides late spring frosts into adventive, radiation and mixed.

Adventive frosts occur during the period of invasion of Arctic air masses into the territory. There are no methods to counter this natural phenomenon; it is useless to fight them. One good thing is that this type of frost is characteristic mainly of the northern regions, where the planting season and the timing of bud hatching occur at a later period.

Radiation freezes occur quite often, and the reasons for their occurrence are still practically unknown. This phenomenon is associated with night cooling of the surface layer of soil. During the day, the earth heats up under the influence of sunlight and releases thermal energy into the surrounding space. At the same time, equal heat comes from the atmosphere. At some point, this mechanism is disrupted, and the soil gives off more heat than it receives from the air. As a result, there is a sharp decrease in the temperature of the surface layer of the earth. Such frosts are short-lived, occur in streaks and, as a rule, occur on clear, windless and cloudless nights.

Most often, mixed frosts (adventive and radiation) are observed. They are accompanied by a systematic decrease in temperature during inclement weather, last for quite a long time and cover large areas.

In order to be fully armed and be able to provide effective assistance to plants, you need to know about the onset of frost in advance. This information can be obtained from the weather forecast in the media.

As you know, weather forecasters are often wrong, so you have to rely on your own observations of weather changes, which will help you be well prepared for the onset of an unexpected cold snap. The approach of frost is always indicated by a sharp drop in temperature in the evening after a warm spring day and the absence of dew on the grass, as well as windless, dry, cloudless weather.

A little theory

Different cultures deal with lower temperatures differently. Cold-resistant plants adequately resist spring frosts, and there is no need to worry about them when cold weather sets in. For example, carrot shoots and cabbage seedlings can withstand frost down to -6 ° C, parsnips and celery - up to minus 5, and parsley and lettuce - up to 9 degrees below zero.

Warm-loving crops such as peppers, tomatoes and eggplants cannot tolerate even slight drops in temperature. Hypothermia greatly weakens the plant’s immunity, which can cause a number of dangerous diseases in the future.

It should be noted that unhardened and poorly rooted seedlings of heat-loving crops suffer the most from spring frosts. Seedlings of early vegetables must be grown in pots. This ensures that the root system is not damaged during replanting. Plants take root faster and gain strength, and, therefore, resist cold weather more actively.

Fertile, rich, loose soil helps plants during difficult periods. They have enough air for active development, they warm up better in the sun. However, loose soil, cleared of weeds, cools much faster. This must also be taken into account when frost occurs.

Crops planted in unfavorable areas - lowlands and northern slopes - suffer the most from low temperatures. Here, subzero temperatures are observed more often, and frosts last much longer than in areas with convex relief or in open areas. Near rivers or large bodies of water, the risk of spring frosts is reduced many times.

Smoking

Fumigation or smoking is a well-known, long-used method of combating spring frosts. This technology is based on the fact that smoke creates an artificial cloud, and the radiation of heat from the soil is noticeably reduced. In addition, when fumigated, dust particles are able to condense water vapor present in the air, resulting in the formation of fog that protects plants.

To protect against frost by smoking, piles of materials that are capable of smoldering with low combustion are prepared in advance on the site. Firewood and brushwood are placed at the bottom of the pile, on which straw, manure, and leaves are piled. All this is compacted and covered with a layer of earth 2-3 centimeters thick. Such smoke piles (measuring 1 meter high and 1.5 meters wide) are designed for a 15-hour fumigation period; for the best result, they must be laid out at a frequency of one pile per 10 square meters. To allow smoke to escape and air to enter, holes are made from above and on the leeward side.

The main disadvantage of this method is its complexity. Frosts, in most cases, are not limited to one night, and therefore the smoke heaps need to be restored the next night. This method is effective only in calm weather and at temperatures down to minus 4 degrees. Once the threat of frost has passed, unburned material from smoke piles can be used as fertilizer or mulch.

Sprinkling and watering

To reduce thermal radiation from the soil, you can use the method of creating artificial fogs (sprinkling). This method is quite effective during short-term frosts. The essence of this method is to spray the plants with water by any possible means. This work can be carried out at night, until sunrise. At this time, the leaves and stems of plants are covered with a thin crust of ice, which can protect the crop from frost down to minus 5°.

This method of protection from spring frosts, such as irrigation, has long been used in agricultural practice. Watering very well increases the thermal conductivity and heat capacity of the earth. At night, wet soil transfers heat from the depths to the surface much more efficiently than dry soil. After evening watering, condensation occurs, accompanied by the release of heat. And in this warm cloud, plants will be able to withstand short-term temperature drops of up to -4 degrees.

When using sprinkling and watering, the well-known laws of physics apply, when freezing one gram of water releases 80 calories of heat, which increases the temperature around the plant.

Covering

Covering plants today is the most effective and most common method of protecting heat-loving plants from spring frosts. This method has only one drawback - it is not suitable for protecting large trees.

Individual shelters are the most primitive part of this method. Such shelters can be built over each individual hole or bush of seedlings. Any materials on hand will do. You can cover the plants with paper juice or dairy bags, or plastic bottles. Covering them with glass jars can be a good protection for newly planted seedlings, and some gardeners use cardboard packaging boxes for this purpose. Burlap and matting are also suitable for protecting crops from frost; many people use hay or sawdust for these purposes.

Tomatoes and potatoes can be covered with soil. In this case, the tomato seedlings are carefully bent to the ground and sprinkled with a 2-3 cm thick layer of earth. The tomatoes can remain under such cover for several days. To protect against frost, young potato sprouts can simply be hilled up.

The use of polyethylene film is possible with some restrictions. The fact is that you can’t just throw polyethylene over the plants. On frosty nights, when the film comes into contact with leaves, plants can receive significant burns. Polyethylene film is not capable of retaining heat at the proper level and shelters made from it can only be used as an additional means, and only if it is stretched over a frame. You can, for example, cover the plants with paper or hay, and put a frame with stretched polyethylene on top. In this case, an additional air cushion is created, which improves protection against subzero temperatures.

Today, the farm goods market offers gardeners a large selection of agrofibre. This non-woven polypropylene material is very light, and at the same time has good thermal protective properties. Agrofibre can be thrown over plants without using a frame. This material allows water to pass through well, and after rain the soil under it does not need to be watered. Moreover, in hot weather, the soil covered with agrofibre perfectly retains moisture.

Agrofibre comes in various thicknesses and densities. The thinnest option will help protect plants if the temperature drops to minus 3°, and agrofibre of greater density and thickness helps with frosts down to minus 7-9 degrees. When purchasing agrofibre in a specialized store, you must definitely consult with the seller about this. Light agrofibre can be laid directly on plants freely and without tension, sprinkling earth around the edges. For large plants, it is better to make arcs from wire.

Features of garden protection

When late spring frosts occur, the level of danger for trees and shrubs depends on the phase of plant development. For example, buds and already blooming flowers can be damaged if the temperature drops to minus 3-4 degrees, and the formed ovaries will die at minus 1 °C.

Trees and shrubs growing in lowlands and on northern slopes are especially affected, since the intensity and duration of frost in these places is much higher than in elevated areas and on flat surfaces. But near rivers, ponds and other large bodies of water, garden trees and shrubs are almost never damaged by frost. These factors must be taken into account when setting up a garden.

You can protect trees and shrubs using all the methods we discussed above. That is, smoking, sprinkling and covering plants are suitable here. Many gardeners, when cold weather sets in, place many containers of water under the trees. In specialized stores you can buy smoke bombs, the use of which helps protect trees at temperatures down to minus 4 degrees. The smoke from such bombs covers the leaves with a layer of paraffin, which protects them from the icy dew that falls in the morning. It is good to cover small trees and shrubs with dense agrofibre using a frame made of wire arches. However, this method is not suitable for large branched trees.

Some gardeners, when spring frosts occur, heat the garden using special heating pads. Old iron buckets, large cans and other metal containers are suitable for making such devices. These containers are filled with used oil, diesel fuel, fuel oil - that is, that flammable material that will not be too expensive for you. A cross made of tin or mesh is placed on the heating pad, and a wick in the form of a stick dipped in kerosene is installed on it. When frosty weather sets in, you just need to light the wick. Placing such heating pads at the rate of two per hundred square meters will help raise the air temperature around trees and shrubs by 5-6 degrees.

Some gardeners, especially those living closer to northern latitudes, use the so-called biological method of combating spring frosts. The essence of this method is to inhibit the onset of flowering of trees and shrubs.

You can slow down the onset of flowering with the help of early spring watering, which reduces the air temperature in the garden and increases its humidity. Summer pruning of stone fruit crops such as peach and apricot promotes the appearance of a second wave of growth of young shoots, on which buds later appear, and, accordingly, flowering and fruit formation begin later.

A few words about resuscitation

Do not despair if, despite using protective methods, your plants are still damaged by frost. Many plants can be brought back to normal by spraying them in the morning before sunrise with water from a spray bottle. This will help them recover faster.

Root feeding with a solution of nitroammophoska - at the rate of 50 grams per bucket of water (a bucket of solution per 1 m 2) - helps to speed up recovery. Foliar feeding, that is, spraying the leaves, can also significantly improve the health of the crop. For spraying, you can prepare a solution according to this recipe: take 2 grams of boron, copper and manganese and dissolve it all in a bucket of water. Instead of water, it is best to use an infusion of fermented weeds, if available.

Loosening the soil promotes better regrowth of frost-damaged plants.

And also, do not rush to remove damaged tomato seedlings - a quite “passable” harvest can form on the side shoots.

A person does not have the ability to influence weather changes, but we can help our garden and vegetable garden actively resist the onset of cold weather. To do this in the spring, you need to carefully monitor changes in weather conditions and prepare all available protective equipment in advance.

Turischeva Olga, rmnt.ru

Frosts in spring are a common occurrence. It consists of a temporary decrease in air temperature to negative values ​​in a specific area. Frosts pose a direct threat to the flowers and ovaries of fruit trees. The flowers and fruit ovaries of most fruit trees are very delicate; they are damaged at -2°C, and the ovaries are already damaged at -1°C. Protecting the garden from frost is a problem for gardeners, especially with the arrival of early spring.

Types of spring frosts

There are several types of spring frosts. These are radiation, adventive, and mixed frosts.

Radiation freezes occur on windless and cloudless nights, they arise due to the rapid radiation of heat from the earth's surface into open space. The occurrence of such frosts is impossible during cloudiness, since cloudiness screens out heat. Radiation freezes are usually short-lived and often repeated.

Adventative frosts are more dangerous. They arise due to the invasion of cold air masses from the Arctic regions. The weather service usually warns about such frosts. Adventitious frosts last longer.

Mixed frosts in the middle zone they occur during the arrival of cold Arctic anticyclones. Cold air masses are combined with a lack of wind and cloudiness.

Ways for gardeners to combat frost

All work to prevent the negative consequences of spring frosts is divided into preventive and immediate.

Prevention of frost protection

Preventive work consists of selecting frost-resistant varieties. Also in the proper placement of garden plantings, taking into account the microclimate and topography of the site. Very often, trees suffer from frost if they grow in lowlands or, conversely, in too open areas and suffer from excessive moisture or excessive dryness of the soil.

Preventive methods include keeping snow on the site and whitewashing fruit trees with gypsum milk or a special polymer. Snow retention and whitewashing do not allow garden trees to warm up for some time. Thus, the flowering phase of garden plants is postponed to a later date.

Smoke barriers

Forecasters usually begin to report the likelihood of frost. But an experienced gardener knows that if, after a hot day, by 20 o’clock the temperature drops sharply, and there is not a cloud in the sky, there is no wind, then frost is likely. Wind, cloudy night skies, and morning dew indicate that there is no likelihood of a cold snap.
The signal to begin immediate work is when the air temperature drops to +2°C. Smoke barriers are most often used to directly protect plants. To create a smoke barrier in the garden, you need to prepare in advance several piles of last year's leaves, straw, and organic debris. The combustion of such heaps produces a large amount of warm smoke and water vapor. Smoking will be effective in frosts down to -2°C.

How to make a smoke pile

They lay a stake, cover it with straw, wood chips, brushwood, after which they add organic residues (manure, leaves) and cover the whole pile with earth. Light the pile with a torch soaked in oil or kerosene.

The pile should burn slowly for 5 – 6 hours. For every 1 - 2 trees, make 1 pile.

The lowest temperatures during frosts occur before sunrise.

Saving berries and vegetables

To protect small berry plants and flowering seedlings, you can create shelters from newspapers and polymer material.

Lightweight lutrasil shelters and films retain heat coming from the soil around plants. This technique, like smoking, is well complemented by sprinkling: wet soil gives off more heat.

Saving berry crops

Berry crops may suffer the most from the cold. They are closest to the ground, and there the temperature is always lower than at an altitude of 1-3 meters. At a temperature of minus 4, flowers and ovaries may die. If there is no wind and the night is clear, 0 - minus 2 can be dangerous for plants.

Opened flowers of garden strawberries die at temperatures of minus 1-1.5. Therefore, if there is a threat of frost, it should be covered in the evening with film, paper, burlap, matting, hay, and straw. If you cover with film, then it should not touch the flowers, otherwise there will be no benefit - they will freeze anyway. But if you lay a layer of straw or grass between them, it will be just right, you will get such a warm blanket.

We remove the covering no earlier than 9 am. In lowlands, deep depressions, on the lower sections of a slope, in clearings in the forest, the danger of frost is greater, so in such places the plants must be covered for several days in a row.

To protect currant and gooseberry bushes, they need to be wrapped in burlap, film or paper.

Plants grown in unheated film greenhouses (we talked about how to build them ourselves in the last issue) must also be protected from return frosts. We save the planted seedlings of tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini with paper caps, burlap or other opaque materials.

Let’s also not forget that the plants need to be watered abundantly in the evening.

Fine-drip sprinkling

But what about fruit trees, since their flowers and ovaries are also vulnerable to sudden frosts?

Unfortunately, such a universal coating that can be used to protect an adult apple or pear tree has not yet been invented. Another effective method is suitable here - fine-drip sprinkling.

To a person ignorant of gardening matters, this method may seem, to put it mildly, barbaric. Douse trees before frost?! No, he will say, never! And he will be wrong. Frost protection by sprinkling is based on the fact that every drop of water releases heat to the environment when it freezes. If the trees are moistened so that water constantly remains on the surface of the leaves to freeze, the heat released by the droplets will be enough to compensate for temperature changes in the environment.

How to produce fine-drip sprinkling? We install nozzles on the hoses with the finest spray possible - and begin carefully spraying the tree crowns. At the same time, we try to ensure that intense “rain” covers the surface of flowering or fading trees throughout the entire freezing period. So we are preparing for a sleepless night: the thermometer will only drop to its lowest point at the end of the night. Oversleep and then you will reproach yourself.

Spraying must be completed an hour before sunrise, otherwise the plants, thawing under the influence of sunlight, will turn black and die.

Sprinkling allows you to protect flowers and ovaries from frost damage even at air temperatures down to minus 4-5 degrees. Remember that sprinkling cannot be carried out in strong winds. Wind increases evaporation and, accordingly, increases the risk of frost damage to plants. If the wind is stronger than 5 m/s, it is better not to sprinkle. And one more thing: if leaves have not yet appeared on your plants, sprinkling against frost will not protect, but, on the contrary, will destroy the trees.

Setting up smoke curtains

Smoke curtains are an old, proven way to protect trees and shrubs from frost.

We place heaps of wood shavings and chips, fallen leaves, and peat between the trees and set them on fire. We cover the top of the fire with sawdust and grass, put turf and earth on the flame. The main thing is more smoke.

If frosts are expected at night, then we lay out 6-9 smoke piles on the site and set them on fire a couple of hours after sunset. For greater effect, it is best to come to an agreement with the neighbors in the area - “smoke” in a group is healthier for the plants.

If 30 minutes after sunrise the temperature does not drop below minus 1.5, we dismantle the heaps (but not completely) and extinguish them. They may be useful to us more than once this spring.

Spud up

In order to protect, for example, potato seedlings from the cold, you need to hill them up, covering them with a small layer of soil. This is a simple but also effective way to combat frost.

Feeding plants before testing

Flowering plants are best strengthened from the inside by feeding them before frost. To do this, foliar feeding should be done from a solution of potassium and phosphorus mineral fertilizers (3-4 percent potassium sulfate and 4-5 percent superphosphate). Fertilizing increases the concentration of cell sap, which increases the resistance of fruit plants to freezing. Be sure to spray the plants the night before or 2-3 hours before frost.

After drip irrigation, the flowering fruit trees were covered with icicles. But this is not dangerous for them.

Are you late? Don't panic

If you haven’t kept an eye on the weather and the plants are frozen, don’t rush to pull everything out and throw it away. Water the soil around thoroughly and spray with one of the growth stimulants. Perhaps the plants will get sick and come to life - such cases have happened more than once.

little tricks

With your own hands

1. A threaded neck from a small plastic bottle (for shampoo, water) and a cork from it will help secure the edges of the plastic greenhouse cover. The clamped film is not damaged.

Do you have simple tips that can make household chores easier for other readers of RG - Nedelya? Then write and do not forget, by the way, to attach a drawing - a description of your rationalization proposal.

We are waiting for your letters at the address: 125993, Moscow, st. Pravdy, 24, "Rossiyskaya Gazeta", letters department. Don't forget to mark the envelope as "Little tricks".

Our grandparents still remember those times when the climate was stable and fairly predictable, winter was snowy and frosty, spring was warm, summer was hot and there was sufficient rainfall, and in the fall crops from the gardens could be harvested until the end of October. Today, unfortunately, weather surprises cause many problems for gardeners.

Spring frosts can significantly damage fruit trees and shrubs, seedlings of heat-loving crops, flower beds and flower beds. The quantity and quality of the harvest suffers from them, and people who grow vegetables and fruits at a professional level suffer significant losses. In order to withstand this natural anomaly, you must be able to determine the time of onset of frosty weather and be thoroughly prepared for it. In this article we will talk about methods and means of protecting plants from frost, which can occur even in late spring.

What kinds of frosts happen and how to predict them

In order to understand how to fight it, you need to “know the enemy by sight.” Science divides late spring frosts into adventive, radiation and mixed.

Adventive frosts occur during the period of invasion of Arctic air masses into the territory. There are no methods to counter this natural phenomenon; it is useless to fight them. One good thing is that this type of frost is characteristic mainly of the northern regions, where the planting season and the timing of bud hatching occur at a later period.

Radiation freezes occur quite often, and the reasons for their occurrence are still practically unknown. This phenomenon is associated with night cooling of the surface layer of soil. During the day, the earth heats up under the influence of sunlight and releases thermal energy into the surrounding space. At the same time, equal heat comes from the atmosphere. At some point, this mechanism is disrupted, and the soil gives off more heat than it receives from the air. As a result, there is a sharp decrease in the temperature of the surface layer of the earth. Such frosts are short-lived, occur in streaks and, as a rule, occur on clear, windless and cloudless nights.

Most often, mixed frosts (adventive and radiation) are observed. They are accompanied by a systematic decrease in temperature during inclement weather, last for quite a long time and cover large areas.

In order to be fully armed and be able to provide effective assistance to plants, you need to know about the onset of frost in advance. This information can be obtained from the weather forecast in the media.

As you know, weather forecasters are often wrong, so you have to rely on your own observations of weather changes, which will help you be well prepared for the onset of an unexpected cold snap. The approach of frost is always indicated by a sharp drop in temperature in the evening after a warm spring day and the absence of dew on the grass, as well as windless, dry, cloudless weather.

A little theory

Different cultures deal with lower temperatures differently. Cold-resistant plants adequately resist spring frosts, and there is no need to worry about them when cold weather sets in. For example, carrot shoots and cabbage seedlings can withstand frost down to -6 ° C, parsnips and celery - up to minus 5, and parsley and lettuce - up to 9 degrees below zero.

Warm-loving crops such as peppers, tomatoes and eggplants cannot tolerate even slight drops in temperature. Hypothermia greatly weakens the plant’s immunity, which can cause a number of dangerous diseases in the future.

It should be noted that unhardened and poorly rooted seedlings of heat-loving crops suffer the most from spring frosts. Seedlings of early vegetables must be grown in pots. This ensures that the root system is not damaged during replanting. Plants take root faster and gain strength, and, therefore, resist cold weather more actively.

Fertile, rich, loose soil helps plants during difficult periods. They have enough air for active development, they warm up better in the sun. However, loose soil, cleared of weeds, cools much faster. This must also be taken into account when frost occurs.

Crops planted in unfavorable areas - lowlands and northern slopes - suffer the most from low temperatures. Here, subzero temperatures are observed more often, and frosts last much longer than in areas with convex relief or in open areas. Near rivers or large bodies of water, the risk of spring frosts is reduced many times.

Smoking

Fumigation or smoking is a well-known, long-used method of combating spring frosts. This technology is based on the fact that smoke creates an artificial cloud, and the radiation of heat from the soil is noticeably reduced. In addition, when fumigated, dust particles are able to condense water vapor present in the air, resulting in the formation of fog that protects plants.

To protect against frost by smoking, piles of materials that are capable of smoldering with low combustion are prepared in advance on the site. Firewood and brushwood are placed at the bottom of the pile, on which straw, manure, and leaves are piled. All this is compacted and covered with a layer of earth 2-3 centimeters thick. Such smoke piles (measuring 1 meter high and 1.5 meters wide) are designed for a 15-hour fumigation period; for the best result, they must be laid out at a frequency of one pile per 10 square meters. To allow smoke to escape and air to enter, holes are made from above and on the leeward side.

The main disadvantage of this method is its complexity. Frosts, in most cases, are not limited to one night, and therefore the smoke heaps need to be restored the next night. This method is effective only in calm weather and at temperatures down to minus 4 degrees. Once the threat of frost has passed, unburned material from smoke piles can be used as fertilizer or mulch.

Sprinkling and watering

To reduce thermal radiation from the soil, you can use the method of creating artificial fogs (sprinkling). This method is quite effective during short-term frosts. The essence of this method is to spray the plants with water by any possible means. This work can be carried out at night, until sunrise. At this time, the leaves and stems of plants are covered with a thin crust of ice, which can protect the crop from frost down to minus 5°.

This method of protection from spring frosts, such as irrigation, has long been used in agricultural practice. Watering very well increases the thermal conductivity and heat capacity of the earth. At night, wet soil transfers heat from the depths to the surface much more efficiently than dry soil. After evening watering, condensation occurs, accompanied by the release of heat. And in this warm cloud, plants will be able to withstand short-term temperature drops of up to -4 degrees.

When using sprinkling and watering, the well-known laws of physics apply, when freezing one gram of water releases 80 calories of heat, which increases the temperature around the plant.

Covering

Covering plants today is the most effective and most common method of protecting heat-loving plants from spring frosts. This method has only one drawback - it is not suitable for protecting large trees.

Individual shelters are the most primitive part of this method. Such shelters can be built over each individual hole or bush of seedlings. Any materials on hand will do. You can cover the plants with paper juice or dairy bags, or plastic bottles. Covering them with glass jars can be a good protection for newly planted seedlings, and some gardeners use cardboard packaging boxes for this purpose. Burlap and matting are also suitable for protecting crops from frost; many people use hay or sawdust for these purposes.

Tomatoes and potatoes can be covered with soil. In this case, the tomato seedlings are carefully bent to the ground and sprinkled with a 2-3 cm thick layer of earth. The tomatoes can remain under such cover for several days. To protect against frost, young potato sprouts can simply be hilled up.

The use of polyethylene film is possible with some restrictions. The fact is that you can’t just throw polyethylene over the plants. On frosty nights, when the film comes into contact with leaves, plants can receive significant burns. Polyethylene film is not capable of retaining heat at the proper level and shelters made from it can only be used as an additional means, and only if it is stretched over a frame. You can, for example, cover the plants with paper or hay, and put a frame with stretched polyethylene on top. In this case, an additional air cushion is created, which improves protection against subzero temperatures.

Today, the farm goods market offers gardeners a large selection of agrofibre. This non-woven polypropylene material is very light, and at the same time has good thermal protective properties. Agrofibre can be thrown over plants without using a frame. This material allows water to pass through well, and after rain the soil under it does not need to be watered. Moreover, in hot weather, the soil covered with agrofibre perfectly retains moisture.

Agrofibre comes in various thicknesses and densities. The thinnest option will help protect plants if the temperature drops to minus 3°, and agrofibre of greater density and thickness helps with frosts down to minus 7-9 degrees. When purchasing agrofibre in a specialized store, you must definitely consult with the seller about this. Light agrofibre can be laid directly on plants freely and without tension, sprinkling earth around the edges. For large plants, it is better to make arcs from wire.

Features of garden protection

When late spring frosts occur, the level of danger for trees and shrubs depends on the phase of plant development. For example, buds and already blooming flowers can be damaged if the temperature drops to minus 3-4 degrees, and the formed ovaries will die at minus 1 °C.

Trees and shrubs growing in lowlands and on northern slopes are especially affected, since the intensity and duration of frost in these places is much higher than in elevated areas and on flat surfaces. But near rivers, ponds and other large bodies of water, garden trees and shrubs are almost never damaged by frost. These factors must be taken into account when setting up a garden.

You can protect trees and shrubs using all the methods we discussed above. That is, smoking, sprinkling and covering plants are suitable here. Many gardeners, when cold weather sets in, place many containers of water under the trees. In specialized stores you can buy smoke bombs, the use of which helps protect trees at temperatures down to minus 4 degrees. The smoke from such bombs covers the leaves with a layer of paraffin, which protects them from the icy dew that falls in the morning. It is good to cover small trees and shrubs with dense agrofibre using a frame made of wire arches. However, this method is not suitable for large branched trees.

Some gardeners, when spring frosts occur, heat the garden using special heating pads. Old iron buckets, large cans and other metal containers are suitable for making such devices. These containers are filled with used oil, diesel fuel, fuel oil - that is, that flammable material that will not be too expensive for you. A cross made of tin or mesh is placed on the heating pad, and a wick in the form of a stick dipped in kerosene is installed on it. When frosty weather sets in, you just need to light the wick. Placing such heating pads at the rate of two per hundred square meters will help raise the air temperature around trees and shrubs by 5-6 degrees.

Some gardeners, especially those living closer to northern latitudes, use the so-called biological method of combating spring frosts. The essence of this method is to inhibit the onset of flowering of trees and shrubs.

You can slow down the onset of flowering with the help of early spring watering, which reduces the air temperature in the garden and increases its humidity. Summer pruning of stone fruit crops such as peach and apricot promotes the appearance of a second wave of growth of young shoots, on which buds later appear, and, accordingly, flowering and fruit formation begin later.

A few words about resuscitation

Do not despair if, despite using protective methods, your plants are still damaged by frost. Many plants can be brought back to normal by spraying them in the morning before sunrise with water from a spray bottle. This will help them recover faster.

Root feeding with a solution of nitroammophoska - at the rate of 50 grams per bucket of water (a bucket of solution per 1 m 2) - helps to speed up recovery. Foliar feeding, that is, spraying the leaves, can also significantly improve the health of the crop. For spraying, you can prepare a solution according to this recipe: take 2 grams of boron, copper and manganese and dissolve it all in a bucket of water. Instead of water, it is best to use an infusion of fermented weeds, if available.

Loosening the soil promotes better regrowth of frost-damaged plants.

And also, do not rush to remove damaged tomato seedlings - a quite “passable” harvest can form on the side shoots.

A person does not have the ability to influence weather changes, but we can help our garden and vegetable garden actively resist the onset of cold weather. To do this in the spring, you need to carefully monitor changes in weather conditions and prepare all available protective equipment in advance.

Turischeva Olga, rmnt.ru