We know that not everyone who stops by Frostproof Growers Supply is directly involved in orchard care, but many of the items we sell are, indeed, for those who are in the industry of growing plants for sale. Now that we’re in spring and many of the plants that are started indoors during the summer are being moved outside, we know that orchard managers are finding that they might not have enough frost protection and plant shade cloth to protect all of the plants that are now out in the elements.

Frost Protection

When you’ve got just a few plants that you’re hardening in order to leave them out overnight, it can be easy to take them in an out of the house. A dozen tomato plants all started from seed are still all in a single tray; hardening them take a couple minutes to put out in the morning and a couple of minutes to bring in at night.

It’s not so easy when you have an entire nursery of plants to take care of; it’s a lot harder to take in hundreds or thousands of plants each and every night. Getting the plants out into the ground as soon as possible is a goal of many nurseries, but hardening still has to occur. That’s one way that you can use our industrial frost protection covers, letting the plants harden during the day and covering them up at night. Frostproof carries a huge selection of row covers so that you can cover up your plants with minimal effort, even if you’re doing it every night. The shortest lengths we supply are 100-feet long, not bad for a small nursery. They come in widths of 14-feet and 24-feet, in either .5 oz or 1 oz deluxe versions. From there you can move on up to 250-feet, 500-feet, and 1000-feet lengths for those extra-long rows. Some are as wide as 60-feet, making your row coving more efficient by letting you protect multiple rows at a time. Move them around all you want with these anchoring pins that keep them in place at night and remove the covers during the day.

Of course, hardening isn’t the only thing these covers are used for; there’s also the problem of actual frost hitting late in the season. That might be March in the Midwest or May in the Rocky Mountain Region, but as long as there’s a chance that the frost might get to the plants it’s a good idea to keep the frost protection at the ready if the weatherman or your weather predicting instruments tell you that the temperature is going to get dangerous to you plants.

Need something a little smaller? No problem! Frostproof has frost covers that are perfect for smaller nurseries and garden supply centers that need to protect fewer plants. We have frost blankets that are as small as 12’ X 10’ to protect those plants that need a little more protection during late spring or early fall. Of course, we also have plant covers that protect small carts or even individual plants.

Shade Cloth

Once plants are hardened and the threat of frost has passed, another problem rears its ugly head: too much heat. Young plants are just as susceptible to extreme heat as they are to extreme cold, which is where shade cloth comes into play.

While the average hobby gardener only has to deal with a few inexact light instructions — full sun, partial sun, or shade — it becomes a much bigger deal for a nursery when thousands of dollars of plant are on the line. Frostproof’s shade cloth from Dewitt can give you the exact amount of light knockdown you require in both woven and knitted. Do you’re plants need only a third of the sunlight removed from their growing day? 30-percent should be just about right. Keep getting darker with 40-percent, 47-percent, 50-percent, 55-percent, 60-percent, 63-percent, 70-percent, 73-percent, 80-percent, and even 90-percent shade cloth. Shade cloth can also reduce the amount of wind hitting tender plants, and we carry ties and clips so that you can attach it to wires or fences.

Most of our shade cloth is black or dark green, but we also carry white shade cloth that knocks the sunlight down by 50-percent. Black shade cloth absorbs heat; white shade cloth is best used in greenhouses in order to make sure that it doesn’t get too hot. White reflects heat better and prevents a greenhouse from getting too hot.

Protect Those Plants!

Frostproof Growers Supply is here to protect your plants, whether you’re a homeowner and have a $50 pot from the grocery store or you’re a nursery manager and are in charge of tens of thousands of plant’s. Grab what you need, get those plants in the ground, and make the most of spring!