As some of their plants and trees sprouted far too early, Austrian farmers are now scrambling to protect their harvest. The recent cold weather is freezing the trees' sensitive buds and farmers are resorting to creative measures to protect them. Some are using heaters to force heat directly onto the plants. The resulting warm air can also be distributed throughout the garden.
In some fruit farms, owners are also using artificial irrigation to create a layer of ice that is supposed to protect the buds from the cold.
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Slovakia
Meanwhile, in Slovakia, workers are spending the night in an orchard, carefully placing paraffin flames under cherry trees to protect them from the frost. They are using candles, pellet stoves, and smoke-projecting machines to maintain a temperature between -1 and 0 degrees to save the cherry trees.
Apple trees, meanwhile, are covered in ice, a procedure which creates a bubble around the trees' buds, maintaining the most sensitive parts at a temperature of 0 degrees.
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Source: euronews.com