What is horticultural fleece?
Horticultural fleece, frost protection fleece, or garden fleece is a soft and lightweight unwoven polyester fabric used to protect plants and crops in winter months from pests and weather impacts – including frost and hail.
Sometimes referred to as a ‘crop cover’, horticultural fleece is a highly versatile material and can be used as an insulator as much as a protector – used to line greenhouses and to encourage earlier cropping.
Garden fleece must be porous to allow light, air and water through to the plant. Used with care, and stored correctly come spring, horticultural fleece should last several years.
Horticultural fleece is not exclusively for use in winter – it can be used in spring and summer months to help warm the ground, protect seedlings from late frost, and protect vulnerable plants from pest attacks.
Where to use garden fleece
Horticultural fleece is designed for outdoor use to protect tender or newly planted plants and crops from frost, snow, ice, hail, wind, and pests.
This makes it particularly useful for plants on exposed sites, in coastal gardens, north facing gardens, or gardens exposed to harsher winter climates.
However, even if you live in the south, it’s still worth having some fleece in your garden shed ready for any particularly cold snaps that might sneak up without warning.
Fleece can be used on all plants that need protection, including crops that you want to keep free from birds and other pests.
Take care to delay putting fleece over crops that require pollination until the fruit is set, as fleece will keep pollinators away too. A fine net might work better for these plants.
How to use horticultural fleece
First, check the weight of your fleece to determine what temperature it will protect to. Generally speaking, the heavier the fleece the more protection it will provide in very cold weather.
Garden fleece is easy to use and manipulate. Simply wrap or cover vulnerable plants or ground, and secure it with fleece pins, pegs, ties, stones for weighting down, or string.
You can wrap any plant or crop, including the trunks of newly planted or tender trees and shrubs.
If you want to create a fleece tunnel for wintering crops, ensure you leave a space above plants of a few centimetres to allow for expected growth and for air to circulate.
Potted plants and container plants can easily be wrapped or draped with fleece. Don’t tie it too tightly that you limit movement and growth but do secure it to prevent it being blown off or leaving exposed gaps.
For extra winter protection, you could add a layer of mulch to the plants before fleecing them, and then group them together to provide additional protection from wind and frost.
For especially tender plants or tropicals, consider packing straw around them as well as wrapping fleece around trunks.
Finally, remember to remove the fleece the moment the weather becomes milder. This will help prevent rot damage to plants and reduce the risk of disease.
Store your fleece carefully for reuse. Some fleece can be washed by hand or on a gentle machine cycle – check your manufacturers instructions.
