What Parts Of Trees And Shrubs Are Most Vulnerable To Frost?

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

The root system is most sensitive to frost, which especially suffers in snowless winters and after dry summers or autumn. Under these conditions, for example, the roots of apple and strawberry dwarf rootstocks die even at a soil temperature of -8 … -10 ° C.

The roots of most crops are damaged by frosts below -16 ° C, while the branches are able to survive when the temperature drops in the Non-Black Earth Region to -35 … -40 ° C.

Nevertheless, the roots of plants suffer from frost less often than the aboveground part, which is explained by the presence of snow cover and the protective properties of the soil.

Gardener's guide

Plant nurseries Stores of goods for summer cottages Landscape design studios

However, freezing of the roots has more serious consequences, especially if the bark and cambium are damaged: in this case, the plant cannot recover in summer. With a slight freezing of the root system in trees and shrubs, in spring, there is a belated blooming of growth buds, a weakening of the growth of vegetative shoots, a strong shedding of flowers, and in summer there is a massive shedding of the fruit and berries that have set.

In the aboveground part of fruit trees, the most vulnerable in frosty winters are the bole and skeletal branches extending from the central conductor. In severe frosts, the bark and wood at the base of the trunk and in the forks of skeletal branches are especially damaged, since physiological processes and preparation for the dormant period are later completed in their tissues. Longitudinal breaks appear on the bark - frost holes. Plants are often damaged by frost in late winter and early spring (February-March), when there are sharp temperature changes: -10 … -20 ° С at night and -5 … -10 ° С during the day.

Daily positive temperatures favor the beginning of the growing season. Tissues come out of their dormant state, lose their tempering and lose their ability to withstand night frosts. Under these conditions, the bark of the boles suffers again, getting sunburn, as well as flower buds, especially in stone fruit crops (plum, cherry, sweet cherry). Strong withering of the bark of skeletal and semi-skeletal branches in gardens in open places, not protected from the prevailing winds, is also dangerous. This damage to the crown does not appear immediately, but only in 2-3 years the branches begin to dry out.

Of berry crops, the drying of shoots is most noted in raspberries.