FROST tonight - need advice for plants

[peakotter]

Help! I am in Scotland and there’s a September frost forecast for tonight. The last one was 20 years ago in our area so it’s not something I’ve experienced before.

My courgettes, beans, pumpkins and tomatoes are still producing well. Some under glass, others outside. I know frost can kill all of these when they are seedlings. Will 0deg for a few hours kill them? I’m tempted to go outside with the hairdryer at 4am just to keep them alive. I can’t cover with fleece as they are enormous. Any ideas?

You could try filling lots of plastic bottles with warm water and place them around the plants - I have read that because water takes longer to cool plants can be protected by having water nearby, but I'm not sure if that's restricted to water butts with lots of water in them. Maybe google it to check I'm not being crazy. You could also try draping plastic over the plants, if you have enough, or better - bubble wrap. If it's a light frost it might keep it off them. Good luck.

Even newspaper wrapped around them loosely and secured with string will help. Group pots together if you can too.

Thanks! I’ve been out with as many blankets and bits of bubble wrap as I can find. I’ll put some warm water in some bottles (late night washing up session!) and maybe the ashes from the fire in a sealed box.

I’ll be up at 3am with the baby anyway and I’ve got a thermostat in the greenhouse so if it hits 0 in there I’ll run out with a hairdryer!

Anyone know how resilient mature plants are to 0deg for a few hours?

Anyone know how resilient mature plants are to 0deg for a few hours? It depends entirely on the plant.

@MereDintofPandiculation courgettes, green beans, squash and tomato. All the ones I mentioned above, that would be killed by light frost when they are seedlings. They’re big mature plants in the soil so I’d hope they are more resilient now? Thanks.

They all survived the nights, thanks everyone for your advice. Reached 2deg in the greenhouse so it was probably freezing briefly outside. Our average first frost date is the last week in November so hopefully it won’t be a problem again.

Glad the patients all made it! Well done you 👍

I use clothes pegs to quickly secure Emergency bubble wrap etc.when there’s an unexpected frost.