The view of a blossoming spring garden is one of the most beautiful moments of the year. But spring weather tends to be treacherous, and all it takes is one clear night when the temperature drops just a few degrees below freezing, and the gardener’s year-round efforts are in ruins. Would you think that we can save the trees with water and ice?
The trees are covered in snow-white or pinkish flowers and the air smells of the promise of a rich harvest – but the weather forecast “haunts” frost. While most people desperately cover low bushes with non-woven fabric or try to light pipes in the orchard at such a time, there is one method that seems completely illogical and may have the neighbors tapping their foreheads. But we will know that it is very good solution.
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Trees will be saved by physics
A principle that experienced fruit growers call antifreeze irrigation, looks like a recipe for disaster at first glance. Why would anyone sprinkle blossoming trees with water on a freezing night? We would find the answer in elementary school physics, and the basis is a fascinating phenomenon called group .When water turns to ice, a reaction occurs that releases heat. In practice, this means that a certain amount of thermal energy is released when water freezes. It is this heat, even though it may seem small to us, that can maintain the temperature inside the ice shell to safe zerowhich for the delicate structure of the flowers means just that thin line between life and death.
Ice armor for each flower
The water that we spray on the trees will start to freeze immediately in the cold and form around the flowers transparent layer of ice. As more water hits this ice and freezes, heat is released directly to the surface of the flower. It is thus isolated from the surrounding frosty air, which can easily be minus five degrees, and the flower is still safe. The temperature inside the ice pack is still acceptable.
Timing is important
The success of this method, of course, depends on perfect timing and persistence. It’s not a job for someone who wants to go to bed in peace at midnight. Spraying must begin when the temperature drops to zero, and he must not stop until the frost breaks and the ice will not start to melt on its own. If we turned off the sprinkler in the middle of a freezing night, there would be a so-called “evaporative subcooling”when the temperature on the surface of the ice would quickly drop far below the ambient temperature and the flowers would paradoxically die much faster than if we did nothing at all.
Set the spray as fine as possible
For the average gardener with one or two trees, this means spending the night with a fine sprayer in hand or setting the gardener to cover the entire crown of the tree (which is certainly not easy). It is important to ensure that the drops are as fine as possible – after all, the goal is not to “drown” the tree, but to create ita continuous layer of icewhich will still be sprinkled with water. Even if in the morning the tree will look like an ice sculpture from the fairy tale about Mr. Frost, as soon as the ice melts under the influence of the morning sun, we will find fresh and undamaged flowers inside, which are ready for pollination.
Will you try to believe physics?
While the neighbors will be counting the damage to the blackening flowers in the morning, our ice kingdom will survive the frosty night unscathed. Will you try to trust science against experienced trends? Will you be willing to sacrifice one night of sleep? Water, which seems to be the enemy in the cold, turns into the most powerful protector of the spring harvest in the hands of an experienced gardener.
