2023-11-01 14:05:44
The New Zealand FrostBoss C49 operates its blades automatically and brings the warm air down to fruit trees and vines
“It’s easy from afar,” advise the elderly. Now is the time to take care of the orchards and vineyards, which in the spring will once again be threatened by the spring frosts and frosts.
Fins were also installed in a plum orchard near the town of Letnitsa
There is already a sure solution to the problem of crop loss and it is being successfully implemented in Bulgaria.
Farmers call the solution “frost fin” and the New Zealand manufacturer New Zeland Frost Fans named it “wind machine“.
Wind machines have been familiar to orchardists in the Southern Hemisphere and North America for many years. They have recently entered Europe and Bulgaria is among the first countries implementing the innovative technology, along with France, Portugal and Italy. The flagship of the manufacturing company – the FrostBoss C49 wind machine – has been refined down to the smallest detail to be as efficient and silent as possible.
Right now, a project under the Recovery and Resilience Plan will save you 50% of costs
The good news is that the wind machine can be funded under the Recovery and Resilience Plan from the Agricultural Technological and Environmental Transition Fund. The acceptance of projects started on September 28 of this year. and will continue until December 20, and the available budget is BGN 318,048,200 with financing of 50% of the project costs. Among the eligible costs are those for the supply and installation of equipment for the prevention of extreme manifestations of adverse weather phenomena, such as hail and frost.
Already in Bulgaria
A plum grower whose orchard is near the Eight River said that after using a number of methods to protect his orchard from spring frosts without success, he has put an end to his spring worries. He has already installed the FrostBoss C49 wind machine and seen the effect of its operation. The machine is offered by HortiSmart Solutions EOOD.
Its effective operation is determined by several factors, such as the characteristics of the terrain – dimensions, shape, slope, type of soil and vegetation and, above all, the presence of inversion.
In order to choose the most optimal place to place the fin, the fruit grower relied on the experts of HortiSmart Solutions, who are partners of the New Zealand producer for Bulgaria. It was they who provided him with the climate station to detect the presence of a temperature inversion over the orchard.
The wind machine has also been installed at other farms, including Agrotime’s gardens near Isperih.
How it works
Turning on the machine is fully automated and is triggered at a temperature set by the farmer, for example from 0.5 to 1.5 degrees. From HortiSmart Solutions, they pay attention to a number of other advantages of the anti-frost fins, such as automatic start and stop of the fin, monitoring via the Internet, professional motors 150 hp. and Perkins and Launcele automation, an aluminum engine casing and its integrated 500 liter tank.
At wind gusts above 8 km/h, the machine stops producing wind and turns on again when the strength of the air masses decreases.
Why does the wind “blow” the frost?
The principle of operation of the fin is quite simple and efficient.
The vane works with the temperature difference from the air inversion during the early morning hours. On clear and windless spring days, the sun heats the soil and vegetation, which later at night release this heat to the air. The warm air accordingly rises to a height of 10 to 50 m. The maximum height is called the ceiling of the inversion, and the closer this ceiling is to the earth’s surface, the more heat the vane brings down to the colors of the trees.
The company offers weather stations that illustrate the temperature differences above and near the trees.
The blade is powered automatically in dangerously low temperatures by the Perkins diesel engine and rotates 360 degrees at an angle of 6 degrees to the earth’s surface. During this movement around the axis of the tower, the fin continuously brings down warm air to the fruit trees and saves them from frost.
Here comes another great advantage of the New Zealand wind machine, namely its patented fiberglass propellers. They, unlike all similar machines, are four in number and ensure uniform and better penetration of warm air through the tree branches, reaching the maximum distance from the tower. The other advantage of the propellers is the exceptionally low noise level of 55dB at 300m from the machine. This standard is enforced in New Zealand and few manufacturers can guarantee it.
The New Zealanders also offer fins with five propellers, which are even quieter and have a slightly longer range. The best option is that the operation of the blade along with the parameters of the engine and the climate are always at hand – the farmer only has to open the relevant application on his phone, wherever he is in the world.
Other financing options
The investment is paid back over a period of one to three years. Finances look even better if farmers take advantage of European funding – under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, under measure 4.1 or from the state support scheme “Aid for investments in tangible assets in agricultural holdings related to primary production of plant-based agricultural products “.
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