FREEZE PROTECTION
 

Help, I have potatoes just pushing thru and we are expecting it to get to 19℉ overnight! How much damage should I expect? Would it help to throw pine straw over the rows? That's all I have immediately available.

We never get anything but light frost this time of year.

yes, pile the pine straw over the potatoes. They should grow right through it if you don't get to it right away to remove it. Sorry for you, though. I am ordering my global warming right away. Put your order in too. It is supposed to be -14 tonight, here. I am so sick of this weather. It is frigid.

Mulch with stray and put plastic bag or a bucket upside down over the tips should be enough to protect them. As long as the temperature does not stay at 19 for one or week then the soil is not freezing. Water is more damaging if it rain first and then gets below 32 the tubers can rot.

I pulled some pine straw from the middle of the compost pile, it was actually warm and steamy inside.