Keep frost from flowers

The health of flowers on fruiting plants is key to cropping success. Be sure to protect fruit buds from frost, says Bob

- Bob Flowerdew

MOST gardeners lose some plants or potential crops to frosts sooner or later. We can have damp grey years with late wet springs which seldom have a frost, or we can enjoy a bright sunny early spring and endure several.

It’s difficult to tell if and when a hard frost will strike. If one does, the fruit enthusiast is struck hardest, as frost so badly damages the flowers of our earliest, most desired fruits. Apricots, peaches, then plums and pears are notoriously lost to frost as these flower earliest. However, in bad years, a hard frost may come later, when strawberries, cherries and apples are blooming.

The problem is worse as it’s not just petals damaged by frost. We’ve all seen leaves scorched by frost – the same happens to expanding buds, floral parts, small stems and already formed fruitlets.