I have about a dozen various evergreen shrubs and two dozen Colorado
Blue Spruce saplings that receive full sun all winter. A few weeks
ago, I noticed that the yews and saplings were all yellowing on the
tips and not looking real healthy. I trekked out in the below zero
temps and covered them ALL with burlap to help them through the rest
of the winter.

Is there anything else I can do to mitigate the effects of the sun and
more cold temps that we may get hit with? At this point, I'm just
planning to give them a good drink and remove the burlap as soon as
the frost comes up.

In the future, I'll try to give them even more water in the fall, but
right now I'm just hoping that they make it to see another fall! :-|


- Shiltsy

This usually happens because the plants were not watered well in the late fall.
Burlap dosent do crap. If you went outside with burlap wrapped arround you,
would it protect you??

Toad

Burlap dosent do crap. If you went outside with burlap wrapped arround you,
would it protect you??

I agree that they probably didn't get enough water in the fall, but I
don't agree that providing burlap shade "doesnt do crap".

From what I understand, full sun can cause plants to lose moisture
through their leaves more rapidly. If the burlap is applied before
the plants are burned, they can retain enough moisture to hold them
over until the ground frost is up and I can water.

On 16 Mar 2003 07:26:05 -0800, (Shiltsy) wrote:

Burlap dosent do crap. If you went outside with burlap wrapped arround you,
would it protect you??

I agree that they probably didn't get enough water in the fall, but I
don't agree that providing burlap shade "doesnt do crap".

From what I understand, full sun can cause plants to lose moisture
through their leaves more rapidly. If the burlap is applied before
the plants are burned, they can retain enough moisture to hold them
over until the ground frost is up and I can water.


I tried to repond to that but didn't get the post.

Burlap is important sometimes, but as a down parka for tender shrubs,
I doubt it would be very good. Western sun creates harsh thawing and
freezing situations, burlap helps a lot there. Some shrubs come from
places like Japan and China which may be within a local temperature
range, but in Asia good drainage and some rains allow the plant to
drink.. Put that shrub in clay that freezes till March and then
temperature is not the problem but drying wind. Anti-dessicants and/or
burlap is better then nothing. Burlap is shelter for when shelter is
needed.

Moths brown tips too, if I missed that before a springtime awareness
might make me notice that.

(Marley1372) expounded:

This usually happens because the plants were not watered well in the late fall.
Burlap dosent do crap. If you went outside with burlap wrapped arround you,
would it protect you??

If the problem was winter windburn, yes, it would protect me.

--
Ann, Gardening in zone 6a
Just south of Boston, MA
********************************

"Ann" wrote in message
...
(Marley1372) expounded:

This usually happens because the plants were not watered well in the late
fall.
Burlap dosent do crap. If you went outside with burlap wrapped arround
you,
would it protect you??

If the problem was winter windburn, yes, it would protect me.

Ann, Gardening in zone 6a
Just south of Boston, MA
************************

Uh huh! ;-) BTW, my wife bought a pot of Carolina jasmine two years ago,
which froze to a frazzle as it was about to bloom last March. Deciding that
she still wanted blooms, she bought four yards of burlap this past fall
(three times the price of the plant) and made me help cover it last fall. We
took the burlap off this week, and it's loaded with buds, but I'm not
betting they will survive a cold spell in the upcoming week. Anyway, she's
happy that they haven't frozen - yet!

John

"B & J" expounded:

Uh huh! ;-) BTW, my wife bought a pot of Carolina jasmine two years ago,
which froze to a frazzle as it was about to bloom last March. Deciding that
she still wanted blooms, she bought four yards of burlap this past fall
(three times the price of the plant) and made me help cover it last fall. We
took the burlap off this week, and it's loaded with buds, but I'm not
betting they will survive a cold spell in the upcoming week. Anyway, she's
happy that they haven't frozen - yet!

I have old bedsheets I use for frost protection, I don't have anything
that's borderline tender. But get out there and cover it back up!
Even draping a sheet over it will offer some protection. Better than
losing all those lovely flowers! G

--
Ann, Gardening in zone 6a
Just south of Boston, MA
********************************

Winter "sun" burn is more commonly a desicating wind-burn. Planting a few
other things in the area so that several shrubs serve as windbreaks for
one another often does the trick, or planting something leeside that
doesn't suffer from windburn.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/