jeffreyp

Has anyone tried just using an ethylene glycol solution maybe some brands of antifreeze contain this? I have read propylene glycol is toxic to plants. I found a couple interesting links:

Welcome to CQ Concepts

Plants metabolise ethylene to ethylene glycol

jeffreyp

great article...

Flounder Antifreeze for Plants, Alaska Science Forum

enigma99a

ethylene glycol? lol. seriously? or is this a joke?

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Average January Low: 40°F, Average August High: 95°F
Typical Low Each Winter: 28-30°F, Typical High Each Summer: 108-110°F, Annual Precipitation: 22 inches

jeffreyp

don't think so, but you can always ask the author.

enigma99a

Wow, ok Be careful man. For all others reading, this would be in the DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME category lol.

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Average January Low: 40°F, Average August High: 95°F
Typical Low Each Winter: 28-30°F, Typical High Each Summer: 108-110°F, Annual Precipitation: 22 inches

RobG7aChattTN

Proplyne glycol is toxic to plants? It is supposed to be non-toxic to animals and is bio-degradable. It is found in "motorhome antifreeze" that is used to keep the potable water lines from freezing. It is also used in swimming pools, as an aircraft de-ice, and is used in medicatons and food. I was hoping that it would work better than ethylene glycol since it is less toxic and dirt cheap ($4/gal) and you can buy it in a variety of places (Northern Tool). Wal-Mart has it, but it has an anti-rust agent added to it that I'd rather avoid. I'm planning on trying it at least on a few disposable plants.

JuniPerez

Well, our first advisory last night. This morning when I got up, the weather said it was 30°F with windchill at 25°F. I checked the thermometer in the banana grove and it was at 31°F. Plants unaffected. The canna lilies seem fine. I sprayed them just for the hell of it when I was spraying freezeproof on the musas. I don't know at what temps these plants would suffer freeze damage, but so far I'm happy.

jwmahloch

I live in St Louis MO and bought some freeze pruf in early October and it works great!!!!!!!!! I sprayed it on all my bananas (musa Basjoo, musa bordeleen and Musa cavendish) as well as on all my palms that stay outside all winter. Its Nov 12 now and my musa basjoo's and musa bordeleens look great!!! (no frost damage at all). The cavendish has some frost spots (but I understand its only cold hardy to about 37). It also worked on all my canna lilly's and they are still flowering. We have had 3 nights below freezing this fall, with a min temp of 30.

The 10 day forcast here is not below 37 for the next 10 days so maybe my bananas will last until Thanksgiving (which is a month beyond the growing season here). I have noticed that my bananas that are against the south and east side of my house look much better than the ones I have away from the house that are exposed to the wind. - Jeremy (St Louis MO) zone 6b/7a.

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Jeremy

RobG7aChattTN

Well that sounds awesome! Now I have to figure out how to add it to my plant budget. It will be interesting to see how it does on palms!

jwmahloch

Freezpruf is a little expensive but it works. I have been emailing back and forth with Dr. Frankco (the botonist that developed freezepruf). He told me that it will add at least 5 degrees of told tolerance to bananas and palms. So for example I have a CA fan palm thats normally leaf hardy to 23 degrees, with freezepruf it should be able to go down to 18 degrees F without damage. I am waiting to see how it works on my palms. We are almost a month past the first frost here in St Louis and my bananas still look great. The ones on the side of my house actually get more sun now because the leaves have fallen off the trees around the house.

Liquid fence actually sent me a free gallon concentrate for telling the how well it worked. I had to buy 2 quart concetrates first to see how it worked. So you might try giving good feedback to them after you use some and see if you can get a free sample.

What kind of palms are you growing and where are you located?

Jeremy

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Jeremy

enigma99a

Jeremy, I have been holding out on using my freezpruf until the cold weather hits. But how did you apply it? under the leaf as well?

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Average January Low: 40°F, Average August High: 95°F
Typical Low Each Winter: 28-30°F, Typical High Each Summer: 108-110°F, Annual Precipitation: 22 inches

jwmahloch

I sprayed both sides of the banana leaves (I bought the concentrate and mixed it in a pressure sprayer so I can spray my bananas that are 12 feet tall without a ladder, it also helps that I am tall). The freeze pruf is absorbed into the plant so it will not wash off if it rains. Make sure you reapply to any new growth. Its supposed to last 4 to 6 weeks but I reapplied after 3 weeks. Its also supposed to work great on palms. I was told that it added about 5 degrees of cold tolerance to bananas and palms. We are a month past our first frost here and my bananas and palms look great. I have landscaping lights that light them up night. Good luck

Jeremy

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Jeremy

jwmahloch

Below is a link to a radio interview with Dr. Frankco regarding freeze pruf. I found it very helpful.
Protect Plants from Sudden Frost or Freeze
Jeremy

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Jeremy

JuniPerez

Hello all.. just a little update on my convo with Dr Francko.

I just got home to his reply to my last email, in which I had asked two things: Does FreezePruf contain antidessicant and does it protect the roots as well (since the plants do absorb and distribute throughout their cell structure).

His response on the antidessicant question, directly quoting his email, "FreezePruf DOES contain an antidessicant in the formulation - in fact, the highest efficiency antidessicant out there on the market, so there is no need to apply that separately. The antidessicant is one of the reasons why FreezePruf resists washing off for several weeks, in addition to protecting the plant in its own right."

So, when calculating the costs of using FreezePruf, it'd only be fair to add in the savings from not having to use a separate antidessicant spray. The anti-d spray I've used costs $15 for a 32oz spray bottle that lasts 3 months. FreezePruf costs $12.00 for a 32oz spray bottle that lasts 6 weeks... so $24 for 3 months. So to me, FreezePruf only costing me an additional $9 for the added hardiness protection per bottle for 3 months. That's so worth it.
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His response to the roots question; he claims that while he hasn't experimented directly with root protection, he believes it gets distributed to the roots and that many gardeners are testing this with potted plants and will provide him feedback.
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Finally, he tossed in an extra tip for palms: It's very important that when you spray the spears you make sure FreezePruf gets down into the crown onto the bud tissue so it's protected. <---- THIS I was avoiding 'cause I didn't want any of it getting into the crown. Who'd have thought?

I hope this helps many of you. I've linked him to this forum and a few others that are discussing FreezePruf so he can better see what users are experiencing and maybe get some feedback.

bikoro child

Has some one any pics of the result of the FreezePruf using ?

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Ivan

jwmahloch

Here are some pictures I took a week after it got down to 30 degrees. That was a month ago and my banana plants still look good. My Basjoo's and Bordelen's had almost no freeze damage at 30 but my dwarf cavendish had some black spots on the leaves. My understanding is that the dwarf cavendish is only hardy to about 37 compared to 32 for the basjoo and bordelen. The bananas up against my house look much better than the ones that are away from the house as of today.

- Jeremy (St Louis MO)

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Jeremy

winsorw

Hi,
Has anyone have info of its performance below 30s yet? The temp where I live (z8) went down to 15-17s early this week. (I haven't tried it.)
Thanks.

jwmahloch

Yes. First it depends on the plant that you use it on. As far as bananas are concerned it added about 3-5F additional cold tolerance from my experience. I used it on my basjoos and bordelons and had no damage at 30F, a small amount of leave damage at 29, more damage at 28 and below 27 my I had alot of damage. I was able to extend the growing season here in St Louis an additional 5 weeks past the first frost for my bananas.

Also keep in mind that it depends on the plants freezing point. For example windmill palms are normally leaf hardy to about 15F, so freeze pruf would take that down to 10F.

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Jeremy

enigma99a

In my experience, it gives like 2 degrees for bananas

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Average January Low: 40°F, Average August High: 95°F
Typical Low Each Winter: 28-30°F, Typical High Each Summer: 108-110°F, Annual Precipitation: 22 inches

Randy4ut

Just read this from another board that I spend quite a bit of time on, and thought I would share this person's opinion thus far. Doesn't sound like it impressed this individual in Texas!!!

Hardy Palm and Subtropical Board: FreezePruff Results (not good)

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