BigBendFishing.Net

2 days in the teens in south Ga doesn't come around often. So what do you do? Take a sprinkler and put it 12 foot up an oak tree...............................

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I kept telling my wife we needed to do that for the girls... Looks awesome!

I did that last year for my boys.....broke the limb and had to cut it off.

I was hung in two huge ice storms two years back to back in Athens, so I don't see ice covered trees in the same light as some. Kids do love them though.

Another couple of pics............

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Uploaded with ImageShack.usOne of the biggest icicles.

I had to run a sprinkler so the pump would not freeze. So I figured I'd have fun with it.

My buddy put one on top of his metal roof. He didn't think about not being able to use the stairs when they iced over

Just curious, outside the risk of breaking the limb does the ice itself do any harm to the tree / kill limbs it envelops? If not, think I'll have to give that a try the next big freeze we get!

Much smaller scale but the kids loved walking outside and seeing it. The crape myrtle not so much.

big bend gyrene wrote:Just curious, outside the risk of breaking the limb does the ice itself do any harm to the tree / kill limbs it envelops? If not, think I'll have to give that a try the next big freeze we get!

If the tree can support the weight it wont hurt it. In florida they do this to protect orange trees from a hard freeze.( not as much water though) Just a skin of ice.

big bend gyrene wrote:Just curious, outside the risk of breaking the limb does the ice itself do any harm to the tree / kill limbs it envelops? If not, think I'll have to give that a try the next big freeze we get!

We have a small blueberry farm. We actually have to run sprinklers when it gets below freezing to prevent the cold from killing the buds. Orange farmers have to do the same thing. I don't quite understand the science, but I think most trees can take it as long as the weight doesn't cause limbs to break. I always thought a weeping willow would make a good one.

red_yakker wrote:

big bend gyrene wrote:Just curious, outside the risk of breaking the limb does the ice itself do any harm to the tree / kill limbs it envelops? If not, think I'll have to give that a try the next big freeze we get!

We have a small blueberry farm. We actually have to run sprinklers when it gets below freezing to prevent the cold from killing the buds. Orange farmers have to do the same thing. I don't quite understand the science, but I think most trees can take it as long as the weight doesn't cause limbs to break. I always thought a weeping willow would make a good one.

When the water crystalizes from the liquid state into the solid state, there is a drop in the thermal energy of the individual molecules. This drop in internal energy is caused by a release of latent heat. While most of this heat is absorbed by the cold air around the freezing water, some of the heat is absorbed by the tree and fruit. This absorption of heat will keep the tree a little bit warmer than the outside surroundings, so it is only effective in temperatures that are close to the freezing point of water. If the temperature outside gets too low so that the latent heat released from the formation of ice can't keep the tree above the freezing point, the tree will die.

DAMN!

It wasn't that long ago we had 3-4" of ice and were stuck inside for 3 days.

I AM AFRAID THAT THERE IS SOME MISLEADING INFORMATION ON THIS SUBJECT. I WAS IN THE GROVE BUSINESS AND CITRUS NURSERY IN CENTRAL FLA. FOR MANY YEARS, THIS WAS IN ADDITION TO MY TRUCKING BUSNESS. WE USE TO ICE IN OUR TREES AND THE NURSERY, MAINLY BECAUSE THE TEMPERATURE WOULD NOT GO BELOW FREEZING ON THE PLANTS OR TREES. THE TEMPERATURE HAS TO GO BELOW 28 FOR OVER 4 HOURS TO KILL CITRUS, WHEN WE ICED THE PLANTS IN THE TEMP. WOULD NOT GO BELOW 30 DEGREES. IF THERE IS ANY FRUIT ON THE TREES IT CAN NOT STAND ANYTHING BELOW 32 DEGREES WITHOUT DAMAGE. IN THE BIG FREEZE OF DEC. 13TH 1957 WE LOST EVERYTHING WE HAD, 360 ACRE GROVE, 40 ACRES OF CITRUS NURSERY PLANTS. WE USED ELECTRIC MOTORS TO DRIVE OUR IRRIGATION PUMPS AND WE LOST POWER FOR 3 DAYS AND COULD NOT ICE IN OUR CITRUS PRODUCTS, NURSERY AND PRODUCING GROVES. IT IS A REALLY SAD THING TO LOOSE EVERYTHING YOU HAVE WORKED FOR OVER 20 YEARS TO BE WIPED OUT IN ONE NIGHT. I WAS FORTUNATE DO TO THE FACT I STILL HAD MY TRUCKING BUSINESS TO FALL BACK ON. IF YOU ICE YOUR PLANTS IN KEEP THE WATER RUNNING UNTILL ALL THE ICE HAS MELTED, IF YOU DO NOT DO THIS, THE ICE ACTS LIKE A MAGNIFYING GLASS AND WILL COOK THE OUTER LAYER OF BARK AND WILL KILL THE PLANT. THIS IS FROM EXPERIENCE, I HAD ONE SMALL PUMP I RAN OFF THE PTO ON THE TRACTOR AND THE AREA THAT I COULD IRRIGATE WITH THIS PUMP SURVIVED AND CONTINUED TO PRODUCE THE NEXT YEAR AND EVER SINCE. UNTIL THE TREES WERE CUT DOWN AND THE LAND PUT INTO REALESTATE.
PA
SEMPER FI