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Show .in. X - ft mi . if , :if If; J ',,! j - h - it '' ' I" i ! 1,1 David Whiting, Horticulturist with the II USU Extension Service, examines fruit ' j)TCPT C R 1 1 1 T tree U( tnat come mto the green- ) U Ul tU I l tl U I I bud stage of development. Most trees in I 1,1 the area are in this stage of starting to ii blossom. 1 MATURES BELOW WHICH FROST DAMAGE CAN OCCUR I u Stage of Bud Development I IS - Showing Color Full Bloom Green Fruit I ),! Degrees F. .. ? 25 28 29 i 11 25 27 30 ; ii 28 28 30 ' l' 25 28- 30 I 3,1 "s 25 .28 30 25 28 31 1,1 : 30 ' 31 31 j- , 1 1 1 ' I J K STL'CKI ' IJ :,t fruit trees in II wcould see your '. - by frost before ; 1,1 ;1 to mature. 'jrong of David i ' horticulturist for I tension Service. I J. Bare about 2-3 j-fnormal in blos-I blos-I I1 according to 1 ' southern part , J.! : tempera-ahead tempera-ahead of i I, 11 e lost most ,,' L'P to frost ,J. ;!ATHER in Feb-& Feb-& brought the i I 'ncy earlier I h could lead S ' -iear. ' 1 :'!iur will stay mil fruit is well ! :;jhavenodam- .' lemperatures .feezing, it .;- 'r your trees ;cern will be "."op which is g ,Car- A new ".Uninitiated for ft :.;aflhe state to gainst frost, father Ser-.Dutl'ne Ser-.Dutl'ne out a '; ": 'ch tells night tem-:cpectedfor tem-:cpectedfor .J Rations ;v 'fa mington, m,he Ogderl ' lheradio station A operated by the Weather Service Ser-vice throughout the state, and can be found either on one of the little weather radios sold in stores or by tuning your radio to 162.550 Mz on the public service band. The preliminary report for frost is put out around noon, with the major frost forecast given at 4 p.m. The Extension Service has checked the accuracy accur-acy of these forecasts iri our area, and have found that they have been either right on the button, or one degree off at most, says Whiting. WITH THIS type of accuracy, accura-cy, says Whiting, you can feel confident in following their advice. It is possible to protect against frost damage to an extent, ex-tent, says Whiting. One of the suggestions given by him is that you can take an infra-red heat lamp and hang it above your tree or set it below the tree aimed up. THIS WILL produce the heat at the buds and blossoms but does not heat up the air around it. and is reported to be quke economical. If it is possible, possi-ble, adds Whiting, you should cover the trees. If the trees are dwarf, those won't be too much of a problem. The thing to remember when covering the trees is that the covering should not touch the tree, or it could cause freezing at that point. IF THE weather is dry, you could use plastic, blankets, or even newspapers to cover the trees. But if there is any moisture mois-ture in the air you should use plastic to protect your trees from the precipitation, but be sure to keep the plastic off the trees or you will probably get frost spots, says Whiting. The accompanying chart will give you the temperatures below which you will probably get frost damage, for the various va-rious kinds of fruit. With the warm temperatures this week most of the trees will be coming com-ing into the stages where you will need to watch the temperatures temper-atures close. FROST DAMAGE can occur at any stage between the green bud stage, when there is a small tip of green showing, to the small green fruit stage where you can see the fruit start to form. Whiting pointed out. |