I heard this morning that a major Caifornia nursery (over 1,000 acres) has been using a material called Anti-Stress 550 and reported great results with it in reducing frost damage to various plants as well as reducing stress to plants during hot weather in our climate with low humidity.
I telephoned the manufacturer and spoke with their technical specialist and he reported that the product has been widely used for 20 years and that many growers find they can get 4F-6F protection and that a foliage grower in Arizona reports 8F protection. I was speaking to him about using it on some of my other commercial crops but also mentioned my banana hobby and he said many of us would see a great benefit in using the material.
For my own use I can get the material from a local agricultural supplier. I asked about any online sources and he mentioned Terra Tech from Oregon. I searched and found the material at the following links:
Anti-Stress 550, 2.5 gal. 2.5 gallons Anti-Stress 550
Anti-Stress 2000, 1 gal. 1 gallon Anti-Sress 2000
Anti-Stress 2000, 1 qt. 1 quart Anti-Stress 2000
Note: Anti-Stress 2000 is an identical product with different label for horticultural trade.
Here is a link to the manufacturer's web site with some test information:
Reduce Frost Plant Protection Anti Stress Plant Protection Frost Plant Protection Reduce Frost Plant Protection
Since Freeze-Pruf (see
Freeze Pruf) seems to be stalled, I thought this is something some of us might want to try this next winter.
Cheers,
Harvey