Portable frost-protection misting system: Trial on tomato and sweet orange crops

Abstract

During the North American crop-growing season, although daytime temperatures may remain well above freezing point, nighttime temperatures can easily drop below 0 ˚C for a few hours. The effects of frost are felt in small operations, such as residential gardens, or in specific areas of a larger operation. Various large-scale measures exist for crop frost protection but they are neither portable nor flexible. A fully automated portable frost-protection misting system that makes use of the latent heat of fusion of water was developed and tested on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) at the Macdonald Campus of McGill University (Saint-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada). The water tank stores up to 20 gal of pressurized water and detachable auxiliary air tanks provide additional line pressure. The device is lightweight, portable and provides flexible, overhead water misting for two 25-ft rows of crops. It activates autonomously using a thermostat, battery pack, and solenoid valve, and the outlet pressure is regulated using a pressure regulator. It is easily installed and dismantled for expedient relocation and the dynamic system of tubing and nozzles can be modified as required. The system was tested in subzero ambient air temperature ranging from L7.1 to 0 ˚C. During misting, the flesh of the targeted tomato fruit remained, on average, 3.1 and 3.6 ˚C warmer than ambient temperatures. The use of the system is currently limited by the infrequent formation of ice on the misting nozzles and in the water lines due drastic drops in temperature.