Providing protection from winter elements and seasonal temperature shifts are important considerations for nursery growers and landscape contractors. Frost protection fabrics can provide additional insulation to sensitive plants by maintaining temperatures at more moderate thresholds; however, with a wide range of weights and materials on the market, it is necessary to understand the extent to which various frost fabrics can serve this purpose. Five frost cloth materials were evaluated over a three-month period (January through March 2025) at the LSU AgCenter Hammond Research Station, with individual landscape bed replicates covered with one of four different weights of a non-woven frost fabric, one woven frost fabric, or left uncovered. Landscape bed replicates were comprised of typical landscape bed media (i.e. aged pine bark and sand) with a steel edging frame and support hoops. Each replicate was provided with a temperature sensor below the bed surface and a temperature and light sensor at the bed surface. Sensors recorded temperature and light conditions every 30 minutes, providing insights towards ambient environmental conditions beneath the frost fabrics (or in open air) as well as within the landscape bed media. Uncovered plots received the most amount of light and were subject to the highest degree of variability in temperature; however, the frost protection fabrics provided varying degrees of light transmission and temperature moderation. The woven frost protection fabric allowed the greatest amount of light transmission for all frost protection fabrics investigated, where it also yielded higher surface and subsurface temperatures relative to non-woven materials and uncovered replicates. Non-woven frost fabrics of varying weights generally provided similar levels of insulation to each other; however, it was observed that heavier frost fabrics were capable of minimizing temperature fluctuations. All investigated frost fabrics were effective in raising the minimum surface and subsurface temperatures relative to the uncovered replicates. As the study (and spring season) progressed, peak temperatures under frost cloths were at times elevated above uncovered plots. The results indicate that frost cloths of various materials and weights provide different levels of insulation, and that careful attention to environmental conditions is necessary for deciding when to place and remove frost cloths in the field.
