Message Board - Weather: How do you save fruit buds from the snow and frost?

I can see it's going to be one of those years. First we had sun and a drought, now we have hosepipe bans and heavy rain. to top it all snow is falling in the north and is working its way down to my area.

I have a good amount of fruiting buds and flowers on my fruit trees, the peach tree is heavy in flower. How can I protect the buds and flowers from the frost and snow? If I get hit with a hard frost it will likely kill off the buds and I'll be left without any fruit this year. Any suggestion will be gratefully received.

It's only an air frost that you should be worried about, a light ground frost won't do much harm if any.

If you do want to put some protection in place and your fruit trees aren't too tall you can protect the buds from frost by gently laying a fleece sheet over the top of the tree. be careful not to damage buds that have already opened, or ar in the middle of opening.

The only drawback of a fleece is if you are relient on bees to pollinate your buds. The fleece will restrict their movements quite a bit. If it is a single tree that is your worry, you would benefit by taking the fleece off during the day, and then putting it back on in the early evening until the threat of frost has gone.