Protecting your vines from frost.
When spring frosts hit, the damage caused by freezing temperatures and consequential smaller crops can ripple throughout the industry, devastating everyone from growers right down to the on-trade and off-trade.
Frost is something most growers in the UK will have to deal with, especially as climate change is increasing the likelihood of spring frost events that coincide with flowering, when the vines are most vulnerable, causing huge crop losses.
Different types of frost may occur during a frost event, and growers should also be aware that the temperature, humidity, topography and soil moisture all significantly impact how much damage is caused to buds. The amount of weeds and length of grass also have a big impact on the efficacy of whatever frost protection you have in place.
While there is no magic, one-size-fits-all solution, various methods can be adopted to mitigate the impact inflicted on young buds when the temperature drops. One method which is particularly efficient in protecting the plant is controlling the formation of the hoarfrost.
Without protection, the layer of hoarfrost will increase and finally cause damage to the flowers and buds by dehydration as the ice crystals extract energy and humidity from the buds and flowers.
The AgroFrost FrostGuard does this by emitting a hot air stream every seven to 10 minutes, so part of the ice evaporates while the remaining ice gets energy from the passing air. The higher the humidity, the more energy is transferred. This allows growers to protect crops with only a fraction of the energy input that some other frost protection systems need.
The static FrostGuard machines run on gas allowing growers to protect crops at sites where no water is available and can also be positioned in several areas across the vineyard to ensure coverage in known frost pockets.
Frost protection is only effective if it is put to use at the right time, and so another benefit of the AgroFrost FrostGuard is that it can be equipped with an auto-start system which activates the machine as soon as the temperatures drop below a set point.
Growers can also invest in a good, reliable weather forecasting service and in-field monitoring system to get accurate wet bulb temperate readings. The nMETOS FROST from Pessl Instruments gives growers remote access to the conditions in the field 24/7, in close real-time.
From site-specific sensors, the nMETOS FROST module provides the measurements of wet bulb and dry bulb temperatures, relative humidity, dew point, VPD and delta-T every five minutes.
When a frost event is close to happening, an alert is sent by text, sound and email. This way, growers know the exact moment vines are at risk and can turn on any frost protection equipment they’ve got in place.
For more information on the AgroFrost FrostGuard and the nMETOS FROST, as well as the other frost protection equipment NP Seymour offers, please phone the office on 01580 712200 or email sales@npseymour.co.uk
