crop candles

Comments

• Electricd@lemmybefree.net ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Seems to be worse ecologically

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  • Mubelotix@jlai.lu ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It’s actually not. We have entire regions covered with vines. We can’t wrap the whole France in plastic, it’s just not possible. But we can predict where it’s going to freeze and when, so we take such measures on very specific zones with precise timings. So this only happens a few times a year, at precise locations and not for long

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    • The_v@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      It’s an old cheap method.

      We have much better ways of protecting crops from frost including reusable netting/row covers with supplemental heat from electric heaters. However they cost more so…

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• Ephera@lemmy.ml ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  A while ago, I saw a documentary where they had a big-ass fan on an apple orchard, which they would turn on early in the morning.

  The problem is that when it cools down in the night, it can dip below freezing temperatures, which would damage the blossoms, if it stays that low for too long. And the cold air gets trapped between the apple trees, so just creating some artificial wind is apparently a pretty good solution to untrap it and therefore allow things to warm back up as soon as the sun hits.

  Just found it interesting that this is a common enough problem, without requiring more drastic solutions like actual heating, so that they came up with this idea.

  The documentary is in German, but you can see it at 5:00 here: ardmediathek.de/…/Y3JpZDovL3dkci5kZS9CZWl0cmFnLXN…

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  • The_v@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Some varieties of apples blooms are frost sensitive. Others can shrug off a frost and not really care. It’s a generic difference in the cultivars.

    www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/…/html

    So if you see a big ass fan in the orchard, it’s because the grower wanted to push a variety that is not well adapted to the local environment.

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  • Scafir@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Turns out that this is common in Japan for tea fields. They mount big fans on poles all accross the field for it (you provably have to zoom in to see them)

    Image

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    • scratchee@feddit.uk ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I admit that when you said “big fan” I imagined a wind turbine in reverse.

      Zooming into the picture, I see it’s more like desk fans on sticks. I’m sure they’re bigger than that really, but is it really too much to ask for a windmill that does work that way?

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• bleistift2@sopuli.xyz ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  In Germany frost is combated by spraying vines with mist. Freezing water releases heat, which raises the temperature by a few degrees.

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  • starlinguk@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    In one of the Laura Ingalls books they run around pouring water on top of their crop early in the morning when it turns out it’s frozen. It seems to be an old method.

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  • pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Fascinating

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• glitchdx@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  don’t you only see these being used when other preferable infrastructure has already failed, and it’s like, an emergency or something?

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  • Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    That’s exactly why this is done. It’s an emergency operation if there is a sudden freeze that would kill the vines.

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    • The_v@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      A sudden freeze will not kill the vines. Grapes are extremely tough. It can hurt the flower buds though. A severe enough freeze can cut the yield.

      For wine grapes less fruit in the bunches = lower quality wine.

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• Andrzej3K@hexbear.net ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  It works in Minecraft

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• Gladaed@feddit.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  (this is worse)

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  • starlinguk@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    This is only done when there’s an unexpected frost in spring or summer when the poly tunnels have been taken away.

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  • whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    fighting climate change by burning petroleum! Yay

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    • CucumberFetish@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      They are fighting not only the symptoms, but also the root cause

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