Are you growing any trees in your garden that require winter protection? If so, what is the Hardiness Zone requirement of your tree, and what is your Hardiness Zone? Who is the biggest Zone Pusher here?
This worked beautifully last year on my Owari Satsuma and Lila Avocado. It worked so well, I just bought another load of bricks yesterday in preparation to do this exact same thing again.
Well done. I’m in zone 9a with a Lila. I have some old school Xmas light bulbs and my tree is in a half whiskey barrel on coasters if I need to roll it into garage. Good luck in your zone.
Wow! Thanks so much for this! I live in new england and I just ordered a persimmon tree and was wondering how I could protect it from frost next winter. This is great!
What variety did you order, and what Zone are you in? Something like a Nikita's Gift may be able to survive unprotected. This method of protection in this video is more for an evergreen tree that grows all year. Something like a persimmon is deciduous and goes into a dormancy, so you may want to protect it differently.
I use a thermocube - comes on at 35 and off at 45. low tech for techno challenged. My frost king orange tree has a permanent arbor over it. I cover that with frost cloth and hang a drop light on it, plugged into a themocube. I'm also in zone 8 in the DFW texas area,
I've heard of the thermocubes. I've been scared away by the reviews, though. It seems like they have QA/QC issues. Either way, the concept is similar. The downside of my method is I could forget to turn the lights on, and a mechanical t-stat, as long as it is working properly, never forgets.
You will likely want to keep it in a container. The Meyer is a stretch here and won't survive unprotected longterm, and I'm quite a bit milder, here. To grow it outdoors in 7b, you'd need a lot of intervention (water barrels, incandescent lights, longterm breathable covers, etc.).
Growing coffee. Florida 9b. My tree definitely had tons of damage but it was mostly leaves. Lots of people around me just use over head irrigation when it drops. But here in Florida when we get the record lows it's only a couple of hours if that. We can get away with the over head irrigation. But I might try the Xmas lights for the coffee.
The fact that you are wearing a short sleeve shirt makes me jealous! Some folks also use heat tape. I think it is meant for gutters. Not nearly as pretty and festive though!!!
PA Figs the night of the freeze when we fell to 29, it was 80 degrees at 11am. From noon to 2pm it dropped 20 degrees. It went from sunny, hot and a little muggy to total overcast, cold and high winds. Here on the NC coast during late fall and winter, we can see 20, 40, 60 and 80 all in a week. Winters here can have 4 seasons in 4 days. We are very front-prone this time of year. I won’t use heat trace. It worries me of a fire hazard when mixed with agricultural fabric. I would rather use Christmas lights because they are made to contact artificial trees and paper ornaments.
Thank you for the great information 💐💐I was wondering how should I protect my citrus trees this winter but I got a question how many bricks did you use per tree?
I would recommend you look through my playlist on cold protection here, because I've adapted my methods as the trees grow: th-cam.com/play/PL1gY7BoYBGIG1w1u_K6CDIhfsqG8dMnPj.html&si=BUDfA056CSL5WWSF The trees will need some changes made as they grow. How many bricks you use depends on the height of the graft and the width of the trunk. I stack them above the graft line. As the tree grows in diameter, you may need more.
@@TheMillennialGardener yes, I do have a small avocado tree. They grow quite a lot around here. daytime temperatures here are usually minimum of 12C in winter to about 28-32C (although you can get hotter days) in summer. I have been getting lots of blueberries at the moment. As a big eater of asian vegetables, bok choy etc... I am dabbling in growing them hydroponics at the moment. Hope all your plants get successfully through winter.
That is amazing. You live in a climate where you can grow mangoes and blueberries. In the US, you get to pick either-or. You can either move to a hot, steamy, humid climate where you can grow tropicals but it doesn’t get cool enough to grow things like raspberries, blueberries and strawberries, or you can live in a cool climate but you can’t grow avocados, mangoes, citrus and other tropicals. I’m trying to “cheat” by making microclimates. The US doesn’t have any locations that can do both except for small pockets of the California coast.
@@EC-ig8ts You *must* use incandescent lights. LED's do not give off significant heat, so they will not help. I recommend incandescent C9 style lights rated for outdoor use.
Like the remote control from your phone on the lights for your tree, very convenient, don't have to go out in the rain, I use frost blankets with a halogen shoplight, underneath for all of my young avocado trees however I'm not remote. I use the exact same frost jacket. I'm not sure if your heat source is enough? For 10-15 degrees?
GREAT video, learned a ton. do you have a similar video recommendation for Figs? I have a mature Fig up in climate zone 7 (NY) been wrapping for years with Burlap/plastic, but wondering if theres an easier option. thanks!
I don't have to protect figs in my climate since I'm in a warm Zone 8, but you may want to consider trying the method I use for my bananas: th-cam.com/video/Eq8xGdPR3ko/w-d-xo.html
@@TheMillennialGardener Hi. I have decided to purchase and install two Satsuma Mandarin trees. A Brown and a LA early. I will plant them on our south brick wall using your method but I don't think that will be enough. We are in north MS just south of Memphis.Temps here have hit single digits for days at a time. I thought about using mini greenhouses over the trees in the cold temps and adding an electric heater. Do you think this could work or just keep them in pots? Thanks and pet Dale for me.
Great video brother thanks again for your time and expertise! Lost a Joey and a Fantastic this past February with a few days in the high teens! Replanted a Joey and Haas this spring and will prep better for future cold. Do you know the flower type for the Joey? Thanks again from LA zone 9!🙏🏻
Sorry to hear that. This tree has seen 22F several times with no damage at all with the protection. We are due for some low’s in the teens though, so we will see how that goes. It is thriving.
Every single tree has to be accounted for in every climate. What kind of lemon are you talking about? There is an enormous difference between a Meyer Lemon and a Eureka Lemon. There is a major difference between a Bloomsweet Grapefruit and other grapefruit varieties. There is a major difference between an Excalibur Lime and a Key Lime. It's also all relative to your hardiness zone. You are going to have to provide whatever protection is required, and if a 100-year freeze event comes in, you have to accommodate that, too. You're not going to be able to keep a Key Lime alive in Zone 8b long-term, unless you're going to build a serious structure and heat it - and if you lose electricity during the event, it's over. None of this is guaranteed, which is why you shouldn't plant anything in-ground that is significantly off your hardiness zone. You can't keep a 10a plant alive in 8b long-term, because eventually you're going to have a freezing rain event and an Arctic plunge with a power outage. Zone 8b is an average. If you have a 7b winter and a 9b winter, you averaged an 8b over the course of 2 seasons. Your Zone 8b is a 30-year average, and it had some 8a, and maybe even a couple 7b, winters averaged in there. An 8b tree is just that - it's 8b, period. If you have a below average year, you have to account for it every time.
@@TheMillennialGardener thank you 😊 I grew up in zone 9a south texas, literally 4 hours away from Austin and such a difference. I got rio red grapefruit, Meyer, variegated pink, persian lime, I also have two apples, honeycrisp and red delicious and a cherry, barbados but it seems I might have to leave the citrus in pots, I went a little crazy with my mini portable orchard. Appreciate your time
How long do you believe is a limit of covering fruit trees during the colder temperatures? I am in South Mississippi so it doesn’t get too cold, but the temperature can freeze our trees.
@@TheMillennialGardener interesting. How about using bubble wrap in its place as a cheaper version? 😂 I have access to a lot of free bubble wrap. At minimum they will be protected from impacts. 🤣
They are 40.8 watts per strand. Each strand will give off the heat of approximately one 40 watt light bulb, assuming all individual bulbs are functioning.
Bricks are grate at soaking up heat in the summer but they also love to soak up the cold in winter. May I recommend a box of thin plywood with one inch polystyrene glued to the inside as insulation will be the key to your success. 😎👍
Technically, you can't soak up "cold." "Heat" is a measurable scientific parameter, but "cold" is just an absence of heat. "Cold" is relative; people have different perceptions of what cold is, so technically there is no such thing as "cold" and it is only defined emotionally, whereas "heat" is a real thing and can be seen and defined. But I digress. A foam liner may make sense. I need to think about that because insulation can also keep heat out, and I'd be concerned that lining the inside would block the warm radiated from the brick.
Linda Wallace they are just to protect the graft during winter and add some warmth. I am going to remove them probably this weekend. The cold appears behind us in my zone.
My tree was purchased from Plantogram. You can see the unboxing video here: th-cam.com/video/Nm_TSXe_Ti0/w-d-xo.html They did an EXCELLENT job. However, Lowe's has carried this variety the past 2 years. My Lowe's had several Lila avocado trees back in March. If you check your local Lowe's, you may get lucky.
Hi there. Could you please go in and edit your store and links as many of the products are unavailable? Some people who protect zone pushing plants use C9 or C7 Xmas lights. Why do you use the little ones? And by the way, they aren't in your store and I'm not sure which to get. Have you ever tried a more intense barrier for the trees like closed cell foam? Would that make more moisture? Thanks.
The links go active and inactive with stock. Unfortunately, when it comes to Christmas lights, they're generally only available during the Christmas season. They start going out of stock in December, believe it or not. I find the best time to buy them is September and October. You may want to watch the updated video on my tree now that it is much larger: th-cam.com/video/O5pc_GYjyKI/w-d-xo.html
Thomas the Ram 8b Exotic fruit I live 9 miles from the ocean as the crow flies. There are two oceanic influence zones, it seems: the 1-mile bubble where you get extreme radiative protection, and a 10-mile bubble that gives you a light influence. I’m in that 10-mile bubble where it helps me marginally. I may just have a hardier variety, or the radiative effect of the house helps a lot. Tossing a plant jacket and a few light strands helps tremendously.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you! That makes sense! Although I dont get the low tempratures you have I think the frost are much heavier! I live 40 miles from the beach! I was really busy and didnt have time to prepare as much as I should have! The unexpected freeze and all the trees pushing new growth was a recipe for disaster!
@@ALFORDACRESFARM we get some pretty heavy frosts here. I think last year we only fell ti freezing or below 11 times all year, but 2018 was a horrendous year, so we never know what we're going to get. It's been an extremely cold December so far, and it looks like it's going to stick around for awhile. Next week looks terrible.
Thanks for a great video! New subscriber here. I noticed you stated that the brick you bought was a cored "fire" brick. I live in eastern NC and my Lowe's does not carry cored fire bricks, only cored bricks that appear like the ones you are using... current cost .72 each. Do I really need "fire" bricks or can I just use the common, dark red colored cored bricks. I ask because I have access to free (used) cored bricks but I'm unable to find the type of bricks you have identified as cored fire bricks.
The bricks you speak of are the ones I use. They’re the cored red brick down in the concrete aisle for around 70 cents a piece. Any cored brick will work, because you can insert the rebar for stability.
Hey Millennial Gardener, I live right near you and just bought a satsuma so am curious about protecting it in winter. Do you leave frost blanket on all winter? If not, how long of a period can you leave it on for if we have days or a week that is extremely cold?
I use plant jackets and put them on during cold spells, then remove it when we get the warm spells. Plant jackets are designed to be kept on for months at a time, so you can leave them on if you don't want to take them on and off, but since citrus ripen their fruit in the winter, I take them off to access the fruit. I have a playlist dedicated to protecting fruit trees, and I recommend you follow the techniques: th-cam.com/play/PL1gY7BoYBGIG1w1u_K6CDIhfsqG8dMnPj.html
In my location, our highs are above freezing 365 days a year. A 24 hour freeze is a once-in-a-generation event here (it happened in January 2018). When I speak of freezes for this type of plant, I am defining it as a freeze that occurs at night and dissipates at sunrise.
Douglas Barraco the jacket is temporary. While it is breathable, I would not recommend using it as a permanent cover. I will only put it on when hard freezes are in the forecast (which only happens at night here, we virtually never freeze during the day). On very cold nights, I’ll put the jacket on and take it off once the sun is out.
A meyer lemon is not going to survive in Pittsburgh like this. You would need a solid 30 degrees of protection on some nights, and this method isn't going to give you more than 10 degrees or so. This basically gives you one hardiness zone, maybe 1.5 hardiness zones if you add larger lights. For your situation, you would need a greenhouse/high tunnel setup with a heater, I would think. Now, Meyer Lemon's grow incredibly well in containers indoors, so if you have a sunny south-facing window, you can easily grow a Meyer Lemon inside. You can just bring it inside for 6 months, then take it outside for 6 months. They begin fruiting aggressively within a year and is one of the easiest citrus varieties to grow indoors. You can be very successful with one. Now, if you just want an ornamental citrus, you can grow a trifoliate orange in-ground. They're very cold hardy and can survive something like -15 degrees F. You can probably grow that totally unprotected in Pittsburgh. You could grow a Musa Basjoo banana and trifoliate orange outside and really freak some people out in the summer because you'll have oranges and bananas growing in your front yard.
Wow, thank you so much for the great info. I have been taking my Meyer in for winter, and besides a dust up with some spidermites its doing pretty good. I am expecting fruit this year. It is just getting so big I was looking for alternatives. I like the idea of the trifoliate orange though. But your Satsuma looks good, and I'd like something I could eat off of. Would you suggest a Satsuma for indoors? Thank you again for the reply, that was awesome!
@@dasledogg64 if the Meyer is getting big, you can always prune it more aggressively. I specifically didn't get a grafted Meyer because grafting, even on dwarf rootstock, makes it larger. Meyers are naturally small bushes. I got mine as a rooted cutting to keep it growing as a bush. Grafting will make them more tree-like. A Satsuma will make a good potted plant if you get it grafted to trifoliate rootstock, or another dwarfing type. On standard rootstock, they can get fairly large. Not like a true orange tree since satsumas are all naturally small, but they'll do much better dwarfed in containers.
xrsjohnm the Lila is a semi-dwarf. It grows to 10-15 feet and can be pruned to under 10. I think you’re thinking of Lula, which is very different. Lula is much larger and less cold hardy than Lila. www.citrus.com/product/lila-avocado-tree/
You're going to have an extremely difficult time protecting/winterizing trees if you don't purchase the right kind. Buying dwarf and semi-dwarf varieties is critical if you're zone-pushing. Knowing the history of the trees you buy is of utmost importance for success.
Marsha Balderrama my tree is outstanding. My tree came from Plantogram, but Lowe’s has been selling them in the spring the past 2 seasons. You can see a recent update on the tree here: th-cam.com/video/WzXTu57R0mY/w-d-xo.html
Are you growing any trees in your garden that require winter protection? If so, what is the Hardiness Zone requirement of your tree, and what is your Hardiness Zone? Who is the biggest Zone Pusher here?
The Millennial farmer/*-+++**/*--/112345890075
What if it snows
Very thorough directions and no nonsense in your videos, thank you for the info.
Thank you for watching!
The best demo I have ever seen. Thanks for the tips
Reasonable priced and practical precaution. Definitely doable
Mann, I must give you some big fat thumbs up. Now I can try save my citrus trees from frost damage.
This worked beautifully last year on my Owari Satsuma and Lila Avocado. It worked so well, I just bought another load of bricks yesterday in preparation to do this exact same thing again.
Well done. I’m in zone 9a with a Lila. I have some old school Xmas light bulbs and my tree is in a half whiskey barrel on coasters if I need to roll it into garage. Good luck in your zone.
Wow! Thanks so much for this! I live in new england and I just ordered a persimmon tree and was wondering how I could protect it from frost next winter. This is great!
What variety did you order, and what Zone are you in? Something like a Nikita's Gift may be able to survive unprotected. This method of protection in this video is more for an evergreen tree that grows all year. Something like a persimmon is deciduous and goes into a dormancy, so you may want to protect it differently.
@@TheMillennialGardener thank you for taking the time to reply to my comment. I am in zone 5b. I bought a Ichi-Ki-Kei-Jiro Asian Persimmon tree.
I use a thermocube - comes on at 35 and off at 45. low tech for techno challenged. My frost king orange tree has a permanent arbor over it. I cover that with frost cloth and hang a drop light on it, plugged into a themocube. I'm also in zone 8 in the DFW texas area,
I've heard of the thermocubes. I've been scared away by the reviews, though. It seems like they have QA/QC issues. Either way, the concept is similar. The downside of my method is I could forget to turn the lights on, and a mechanical t-stat, as long as it is working properly, never forgets.
I just ordered a Myers lemon tree and I’m in 7b foothills of nc. I hope I can keep it alive!🤞🏻
You will likely want to keep it in a container. The Meyer is a stretch here and won't survive unprotected longterm, and I'm quite a bit milder, here. To grow it outdoors in 7b, you'd need a lot of intervention (water barrels, incandescent lights, longterm breathable covers, etc.).
Good evening from Auckland, New Zealand it’s Friday, November 15, 2019
Thanks for watching as always!
this seems like a good trick from preventing my fruit trees from stolen along with a steal chain
This is a great idea. Thanks for share'n.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!
Great video. You are quite clever and resourceful. I thought the voice quality was better on this video than the last one. Awesome job as usual😎
Thank you. I had to delete the original upload and re-upload due to audio issues. I just received a new mic and hopefully this brand will be better.
Great video! Will do this for young trees next winter.
Can you leave the bricks up year round or will it get too hot in Spring and Summer months.
Yes, you can leave the bricks up, I leave 2 layers there all season and remove the top half.
Great tutorial. Thanks so much.
You're welcome! Thank you for watching!
Growing coffee. Florida 9b. My tree definitely had tons of damage but it was mostly leaves.
Lots of people around me just use over head irrigation when it drops. But here in Florida when we get the record lows it's only a couple of hours if that. We can get away with the over head irrigation. But I might try the Xmas lights for the coffee.
The fact that you are wearing a short sleeve shirt makes me jealous! Some folks also use heat tape. I think it is meant for gutters. Not nearly as pretty and festive though!!!
PA Figs the night of the freeze when we fell to 29, it was 80 degrees at 11am. From noon to 2pm it dropped 20 degrees. It went from sunny, hot and a little muggy to total overcast, cold and high winds. Here on the NC coast during late fall and winter, we can see 20, 40, 60 and 80 all in a week. Winters here can have 4 seasons in 4 days. We are very front-prone this time of year.
I won’t use heat trace. It worries me of a fire hazard when mixed with agricultural fabric. I would rather use Christmas lights because they are made to contact artificial trees and paper ornaments.
amazing work good luck with them
Thank you! And thanks for watching.
Thank you for the great information 💐💐I was wondering how should I protect my citrus trees this winter but I got a question how many bricks did you use per tree?
I would recommend you look through my playlist on cold protection here, because I've adapted my methods as the trees grow: th-cam.com/play/PL1gY7BoYBGIG1w1u_K6CDIhfsqG8dMnPj.html&si=BUDfA056CSL5WWSF
The trees will need some changes made as they grow. How many bricks you use depends on the height of the graft and the width of the trunk. I stack them above the graft line. As the tree grows in diameter, you may need more.
@@TheMillennialGardener awesome thank you for your reply her💐💐
Very inventive and good thinking. it's going to look great too!
Thank you. I hope it survives. Do you have an avocado tree? You have the perfect climate for avocados.
@@TheMillennialGardener yes, I do have a small avocado tree. They grow quite a lot around here. daytime temperatures here are usually minimum of 12C in winter to about 28-32C (although you can get hotter days) in summer.
I have been getting lots of blueberries at the moment.
As a big eater of asian vegetables, bok choy etc... I am dabbling in growing them hydroponics at the moment. Hope all your plants get successfully through winter.
That is amazing. You live in a climate where you can grow mangoes and blueberries. In the US, you get to pick either-or. You can either move to a hot, steamy, humid climate where you can grow tropicals but it doesn’t get cool enough to grow things like raspberries, blueberries and strawberries, or you can live in a cool climate but you can’t grow avocados, mangoes, citrus and other tropicals. I’m trying to “cheat” by making microclimates. The US doesn’t have any locations that can do both except for small pockets of the California coast.
Great video, thank you for sharing. Is there risk of heat burnt to the tree when the light bulbs are on for too long?
I've never had a problem. Christmas lights are designed to go on living trees and contact foliage.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you for your reply. Are you using incandescent light or LCD light?
@@EC-ig8ts You *must* use incandescent lights. LED's do not give off significant heat, so they will not help. I recommend incandescent C9 style lights rated for outdoor use.
Like the remote control from your phone on the lights for your tree, very convenient, don't have to go out in the rain, I use frost blankets with a halogen shoplight, underneath for all of my young avocado trees however I'm not remote. I use the exact same frost jacket. I'm not sure if your heat source is enough? For 10-15 degrees?
you can also get a thermostat switch that will come on at 32 degrees. cheap.
GREAT video, learned a ton. do you have a similar video recommendation for Figs? I have a mature Fig up in climate zone 7 (NY) been wrapping for years with Burlap/plastic, but wondering if theres an easier option. thanks!
I don't have to protect figs in my climate since I'm in a warm Zone 8, but you may want to consider trying the method I use for my bananas: th-cam.com/video/Eq8xGdPR3ko/w-d-xo.html
Great info! Thank you sir.
You’re welcome! Thanks for watching!
@@TheMillennialGardener Hi. I have decided to purchase and install two Satsuma Mandarin trees. A Brown and a LA early. I will plant them on our south brick wall using your method but I don't think that will be enough. We are in north MS just south of Memphis.Temps here have hit single digits for days at a time. I thought about using mini greenhouses over the trees in the cold temps and adding an electric heater. Do you think this could work or just keep them in pots? Thanks and pet Dale for me.
Great video brother thanks again for your time and expertise! Lost a Joey and a Fantastic this past February with a few days in the high teens! Replanted a Joey and Haas this spring and will prep better for future cold. Do you know the flower type for the Joey? Thanks again from LA zone 9!🙏🏻
Sorry to hear that. This tree has seen 22F several times with no damage at all with the protection. We are due for some low’s in the teens though, so we will see how that goes. It is thriving.
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What about lemon? I have them in pots and worried that if we get another freeze in texas I will lose them all, lime, lemon, grapefruit. I'm in zone 8b
Every single tree has to be accounted for in every climate. What kind of lemon are you talking about? There is an enormous difference between a Meyer Lemon and a Eureka Lemon. There is a major difference between a Bloomsweet Grapefruit and other grapefruit varieties. There is a major difference between an Excalibur Lime and a Key Lime. It's also all relative to your hardiness zone. You are going to have to provide whatever protection is required, and if a 100-year freeze event comes in, you have to accommodate that, too. You're not going to be able to keep a Key Lime alive in Zone 8b long-term, unless you're going to build a serious structure and heat it - and if you lose electricity during the event, it's over. None of this is guaranteed, which is why you shouldn't plant anything in-ground that is significantly off your hardiness zone. You can't keep a 10a plant alive in 8b long-term, because eventually you're going to have a freezing rain event and an Arctic plunge with a power outage.
Zone 8b is an average. If you have a 7b winter and a 9b winter, you averaged an 8b over the course of 2 seasons. Your Zone 8b is a 30-year average, and it had some 8a, and maybe even a couple 7b, winters averaged in there. An 8b tree is just that - it's 8b, period. If you have a below average year, you have to account for it every time.
@@TheMillennialGardener thank you 😊 I grew up in zone 9a south texas, literally 4 hours away from Austin and such a difference. I got rio red grapefruit, Meyer, variegated pink, persian lime, I also have two apples, honeycrisp and red delicious and a cherry, barbados but it seems I might have to leave the citrus in pots, I went a little crazy with my mini portable orchard. Appreciate your time
How long do you believe is a limit of covering fruit trees during the colder temperatures? I am in South Mississippi so it doesn’t get too cold, but the temperature can freeze our trees.
I use plant jackets. They're breathable and can stay on for weeks at a time.
@@TheMillennialGardener interesting. How about using bubble wrap in its place as a cheaper version? 😂 I have access to a lot of free bubble wrap. At minimum they will be protected from impacts. 🤣
You said the xmas lights are 40.8 watts each. I think you mean .40 right? How long are your lights?
They are 40.8 watts per strand. Each strand will give off the heat of approximately one 40 watt light bulb, assuming all individual bulbs are functioning.
great video.
Thanks for watching!
Hey buddy, how's your avocado tree doing now?
Bricks are grate at soaking up heat in the summer but they also love to soak up the cold in winter. May I recommend a box of thin plywood with one inch polystyrene glued to the inside as insulation will be the key to your success. 😎👍
Technically, you can't soak up "cold." "Heat" is a measurable scientific parameter, but "cold" is just an absence of heat. "Cold" is relative; people have different perceptions of what cold is, so technically there is no such thing as "cold" and it is only defined emotionally, whereas "heat" is a real thing and can be seen and defined. But I digress. A foam liner may make sense. I need to think about that because insulation can also keep heat out, and I'd be concerned that lining the inside would block the warm radiated from the brick.
Great n funny idea, I m looking for owari mandarin and try this noble frost plant .
Hello, thanks for this info. Do you keep the bricks up year round or take them down when it warms up?
Linda Wallace they are just to protect the graft during winter and add some warmth. I am going to remove them probably this weekend. The cold appears behind us in my zone.
greeting, great video... did it work?
Kizomba Goddess like a charm. The tree is doing excellent and I will be doing the same thing this winter.
Hi there can you post the like for the lights and blanket please thanks tom
They are all linked in my Amazon Storefront in the video description.
Good idea!!
Thanks! Hopefully it’ll work. This will be a tough first year for an avocado. They’re not “supposed to” grow here.
Where did you buy the avocado tree? Thx you great video.
My tree was purchased from Plantogram. You can see the unboxing video here: th-cam.com/video/Nm_TSXe_Ti0/w-d-xo.html
They did an EXCELLENT job. However, Lowe's has carried this variety the past 2 years. My Lowe's had several Lila avocado trees back in March. If you check your local Lowe's, you may get lucky.
The Millennial Gardener awesome thank you
Hi there. Could you please go in and edit your store and links as many of the products are unavailable? Some people who protect zone pushing plants use C9 or C7 Xmas lights. Why do you use the little ones? And by the way, they aren't in your store and I'm not sure which to get. Have you ever tried a more intense barrier for the trees like closed cell foam? Would that make more moisture? Thanks.
The links go active and inactive with stock. Unfortunately, when it comes to Christmas lights, they're generally only available during the Christmas season. They start going out of stock in December, believe it or not. I find the best time to buy them is September and October. You may want to watch the updated video on my tree now that it is much larger: th-cam.com/video/O5pc_GYjyKI/w-d-xo.html
Do you live close to ocean? Do you have heavy frost? I suffered alot more damage and im in 8b Florida!
Thomas the Ram 8b Exotic fruit I live 9 miles from the ocean as the crow flies. There are two oceanic influence zones, it seems: the 1-mile bubble where you get extreme radiative protection, and a 10-mile bubble that gives you a light influence. I’m in that 10-mile bubble where it helps me marginally. I may just have a hardier variety, or the radiative effect of the house helps a lot. Tossing a plant jacket and a few light strands helps tremendously.
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you! That makes sense! Although I dont get the low tempratures you have I think the frost are much heavier! I live 40 miles from the beach! I was really busy and didnt have time to prepare as much as I should have! The unexpected freeze and all the trees pushing new growth was a recipe for disaster!
@@ALFORDACRESFARM we get some pretty heavy frosts here. I think last year we only fell ti freezing or below 11 times all year, but 2018 was a horrendous year, so we never know what we're going to get. It's been an extremely cold December so far, and it looks like it's going to stick around for awhile. Next week looks terrible.
Thanks for a great video! New subscriber here.
I noticed you stated that the brick you bought was a cored "fire" brick. I live in eastern NC and my Lowe's does not carry cored fire bricks, only cored bricks that appear like the ones you are using... current cost .72 each. Do I really need "fire" bricks or can I just use the common, dark red colored cored bricks. I ask because I have access to free (used) cored bricks but I'm unable to find the type of bricks you have identified as cored fire bricks.
The bricks you speak of are the ones I use. They’re the cored red brick down in the concrete aisle for around 70 cents a piece. Any cored brick will work, because you can insert the rebar for stability.
Have you checked out Jerry Satterlee Texas Avocados channel? He has avocado trees that survived the Texas freeze
I have not. Were his trees unprotected? Southeast Texas mostly escaped the big freeze, but Central Texas got creamed. Where is he located?
@@TheMillennialGardener The trees were unprotected. I believe he is near San Antonio in central Texas. He has a variety of avocado trees.
Hey Millennial Gardener, I live right near you and just bought a satsuma so am curious about protecting it in winter. Do you leave frost blanket on all winter? If not, how long of a period can you leave it on for if we have days or a week that is extremely cold?
I use plant jackets and put them on during cold spells, then remove it when we get the warm spells. Plant jackets are designed to be kept on for months at a time, so you can leave them on if you don't want to take them on and off, but since citrus ripen their fruit in the winter, I take them off to access the fruit. I have a playlist dedicated to protecting fruit trees, and I recommend you follow the techniques: th-cam.com/play/PL1gY7BoYBGIG1w1u_K6CDIhfsqG8dMnPj.html
@@TheMillennialGardener thank you sir. That answered my question perfectly. I will be buying one of those plant jackets off of Amazon
Where did you purchase your tree from? Thank you.
This tree was from Plantogram.
What does a brief freeze mean? Is that 48 hours 24 hours 12 hours 4 hours?
In my location, our highs are above freezing 365 days a year. A 24 hour freeze is a once-in-a-generation event here (it happened in January 2018). When I speak of freezes for this type of plant, I am defining it as a freeze that occurs at night and dissipates at sunrise.
Will the jacket allow the moisture to escape..?
Douglas Barraco the jacket is temporary. While it is breathable, I would not recommend using it as a permanent cover. I will only put it on when hard freezes are in the forecast (which only happens at night here, we virtually never freeze during the day). On very cold nights, I’ll put the jacket on and take it off once the sun is out.
@@TheMillennialGardener thank you
Where do you get a plant jacket? I never heard of one
carol parrish I have the plant jacket in my Amazon storefront linked in the video description. They’re pretty great for frost protection.
I live in Pittsburgh, could I use this for my meyer lemon, or is that too much of a stretch?
A meyer lemon is not going to survive in Pittsburgh like this. You would need a solid 30 degrees of protection on some nights, and this method isn't going to give you more than 10 degrees or so. This basically gives you one hardiness zone, maybe 1.5 hardiness zones if you add larger lights. For your situation, you would need a greenhouse/high tunnel setup with a heater, I would think. Now, Meyer Lemon's grow incredibly well in containers indoors, so if you have a sunny south-facing window, you can easily grow a Meyer Lemon inside. You can just bring it inside for 6 months, then take it outside for 6 months. They begin fruiting aggressively within a year and is one of the easiest citrus varieties to grow indoors. You can be very successful with one.
Now, if you just want an ornamental citrus, you can grow a trifoliate orange in-ground. They're very cold hardy and can survive something like -15 degrees F. You can probably grow that totally unprotected in Pittsburgh. You could grow a Musa Basjoo banana and trifoliate orange outside and really freak some people out in the summer because you'll have oranges and bananas growing in your front yard.
Wow, thank you so much for the great info. I have been taking my Meyer in for winter, and besides a dust up with some spidermites its doing pretty good. I am expecting fruit this year. It is just getting so big I was looking for alternatives. I like the idea of the trifoliate orange though. But your Satsuma looks good, and I'd like something I could eat off of. Would you suggest a Satsuma for indoors? Thank you again for the reply, that was awesome!
@@dasledogg64 if the Meyer is getting big, you can always prune it more aggressively. I specifically didn't get a grafted Meyer because grafting, even on dwarf rootstock, makes it larger. Meyers are naturally small bushes. I got mine as a rooted cutting to keep it growing as a bush. Grafting will make them more tree-like.
A Satsuma will make a good potted plant if you get it grafted to trifoliate rootstock, or another dwarfing type. On standard rootstock, they can get fairly large. Not like a true orange tree since satsumas are all naturally small, but they'll do much better dwarfed in containers.
Won't you achieve the same results with just straw
Avocado trees do not have a dormancy period. They need to stay growing. You don’t want straw rotting against your tree’s trunk.
I can't see any of your replies to people who post. Why is that please?
I'm not sure. It may be an issue with your browser. Perhaps a browser update will fix that.
Lila avocado is not a true dwarf grows to 20- 25 feet only true dwarf is wurtz to 12 ft. Your tree is very large for a two year tree!
xrsjohnm the Lila is a semi-dwarf. It grows to 10-15 feet and can be pruned to under 10. I think you’re thinking of Lula, which is very different. Lula is much larger and less cold hardy than Lila.
www.citrus.com/product/lila-avocado-tree/
Xoxoxo
Thanks for watching!
you like the sound of your own voice don’t you.
I'm here to winterize my fruit tree, not to hear the history of some random tree.
Video starts at 4:10
You're going to have an extremely difficult time protecting/winterizing trees if you don't purchase the right kind. Buying dwarf and semi-dwarf varieties is critical if you're zone-pushing. Knowing the history of the trees you buy is of utmost importance for success.
this video should have been 3 minutes tops.... waste of time 👎
Thanks for the great tips. Can you tell me how your Avocado tree is doing this year? And where did you get it from? It is beautiful.
Marsha Balderrama my tree is outstanding. My tree came from Plantogram, but Lowe’s has been selling them in the spring the past 2 seasons. You can see a recent update on the tree here: th-cam.com/video/WzXTu57R0mY/w-d-xo.html
@@TheMillennialGardener Thank you. I’ll check our Low’s in the spring time.
The best demo I have ever seen. Thanks for the tips
You’re welcome! Thank you for watching!