Anyone using a gas powered wind mill frost machine for their orchards?

[mikester]

Got woken up last night to what I thought was a helicopter landing on my driveway.

We have a neighbour about 1km away (less than half a mile) who installed a new gas powered windmill frost machine this spring. At midnight last night he fired it up. Outside temp was 6oC or about 42oF. Still running, right now it's 4oC and no sign of frost. I'm not sure what he's trying to grow, maybe grapes or some sort of orchard products.

If you don't know what I'm talking about here's a reference:

Wind machines for minimizing cold injury to horticultural crops

Learn how to use wind machines to protect grapevines and tender tree fruits from cold temperatures. This technical information is for commercial fruit growers in Ontario. ISSN 1198-712X, Published June 2010

www.ontario.ca

Does anyone here have one of these? What are your best practices?

 

[oosik]

The large orchards NW of me use these things in the spring. Keeps the young tender blossoms and trees from frost damage. They use to use smudge pots - long ago - also.

 

[oosik]

FWIW - most of the more modern "frost machines" have a large electric motor atop the mast. I think that is what your picture shows - mikester. However - the power has to come from somewhere. Perhaps a remote fuel driven generator.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

LOTs and LOTS of them around here, they are powered by propane powered V8 gas engines.

SR

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Air pollution regulations, along with nuisance complaints, have pretty much eliminated the old smudge pot. I was the the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for nearly 20 years, and we had some complaints then, but they were pretty quickly eliminated...the pots that is.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

We lost our harvest this year due to a frost. Didn’t get enough apples out of 500 trees to make a single pie. The vineyard on the property next to us has two wind machines. They had a good harvest this year. I don’t know if those trees will ever give us a decent harvest. Every year is something new.

 

[JPRambo]

I dont need anything as large as that windmill thing. I only have 12 or 13 fruit trees. But I need to do something about a late frost. This year I did not get 1 peice of fruit apple, plum, pear, peach, or cherry.
It's a bit of work to put a blanket over each tree for each frost warning. What do you folks use?

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

In Napa valley, I saw units where the prop was pointed upward. Not sure if it "pulled air down, or pushed air up"?

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Sometimes here, they will bring in helicopters.

SR

 

[Jstpssng]

I dont need anything as large as that windmill thing. I only have 12 or 13 fruit trees. But I need to do something about a late frost. This year I did not get 1 peice of fruit apple, plum, pear, peach, or cherry.
It's a bit of work to put a blanket over each tree for each frost warning. What do you folks use?

If you have some type of sprayer, you can spray water if temps don't get too cold.

 

[mikester]

We lost our harvest this year due to a frost. Didn’t get enough apples out of 500 trees to make a single pie. The vineyard on the property next to us has two wind machines. They had a good harvest this year. I don’t know if those trees will ever give us a decent harvest. Every year is something new.

Frost in spring or fall?

Our trees were so overloaded with apples this year large branches were breaking off.

I don't understand why the windmill is in use here in late fall other than the guy left it in auto start mode with a 6.5oC set point and doesn't live on the farm

 

[2LaneCruzer]

In Napa valley, I saw units where the prop was pointed upward. Not sure if it "pulled air down, or pushed air up"?

My guess is that it pulls the warmer (lighter) air down to displace the colder and move it upward. My guess also is that if it pushed the air up, (colder) it would be replaced with the surrounding cold air.

 

[rangerfredbob]

The one in the pic is an Orchard Rite (red gearhead is a giveaway I'm pretty sure, there's several companies that make them) out of central Washington, been there, my work sold a few engines to them... that box at the base is the engine with a gearhead at the base of the pole and a driveshaft going up to the gearhead at the top... They're generally powered by the cheapest engine available that will do the power needed to get some airflow. It's kinda like water doesn't freeze if moving why you keep your water flowing when cold...

Those temps do sound a bit much to be doing that though... usually it's just the couple degrees around freezing that they use those...

 

[NitroWade]

Loss of harvest due to frost is till a very big deal today, I wonder if there can be a truly permanent solution to it aside frost warnings