Wind Machines
Wind machines are one of the most cost effective methods for frost protection under radiation freeze conditions.
The principle underlying their value is that during the day, the sun warms the soil and plants and then at night, this lighter warm air rises, leaving a colder mass of air near the earth’s surface. This higher, warmer air is called a temperature inversion.
Wind machines capitalize on the inversion development in a radiation frost and work with nature to pull the warmer air down into the orchard or growing field to raise temperatures and save crops. The effect is essentially that of a large fan which mixes the air within and above the orchard so that the average air temperature near the ground is raised.
They became more widely accepted during the 1940s and 1950s and are used on a wide variety of crops including grapevines, deciduous trees and citrus.
Growers typically install wind machines when trees are 7 to 8 years old and can use them over 30 years.
Wind machines can be powered by electric motors, gasoline engines, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) powered engines, or diesel engines.
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