<table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing="0"><tr><td>
<pre>Answering to:
Message: 2
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 16:27:20 +1000
From: "Phyl & Bill" <phylnbill@one.net.au>
Subject: Any Advice?

Hi Phil & Bill
There is little to do against very low temperatures. There will always be a
loss of branches and of some tree (or many trees when the conditions are
bad). Minus 10 is quite low for olives but is dangerous especially when the
frost comes suddenly. Snow alone doesn't harm very much unless it is humid
and heavy. The problem is not that they have too little humidity during the
frost, but that the bark will go away due to expanding lymph. This happens
mainly when the trees had no time to adapt to the cold. So your trees did
not suffer the lack of water in the soil, even though they seem to have
dried out.
Besides the trick with smoke, which could raise slightly the temperature,
one could try to spray water on the trees. This is what lemon farmers in
Sicily do when they have frost, but to say the truth, I don't know any olive
farmer who tried it successfully.
It is important to consider the position (depending on the local winds and
temperature excursions), the altitude (in Tuscany between 150 and 400 m),
the cultivar and the climate and microclimate when you plan to plant olives.
In Tuscany we count to have big losses every 30-50 years. Fortunately olive
trees grow again from the roots, so if they have not already been damaged
before, you might have good chance to collect olives again in about 5 years.
Best regards
Volker Piasta

original message:
Dear Colleagues,
Last Spring my partners and I planted about 8000 trees in Mudgee, New South
Wales, Australia. The trees were developing quite well until, in Winter, we
had about ten days in a row of heavy frost, with temperatures at the base of
the trees dropping to about minus 10 degrees celsius overnight. Following
these frosts about half of our trees have died.
We think that part of the reason that the damage was so severe was that the
trees were not getting enough water - that, if we had given them more water,
their resistance to the frost would have been improved. However, we would
like to take action to ensure that all our trees survive next Winter.
Can anyone provide advice as to what we can do to protect our young trees
from the frost? Of course, the less expensive the solution the better!
Thanks and regards,
Bill Monks.
Sydney, Australia.
</pre>
</td></tr></table>