FROST DAMAGE AND PROTECTION OF KIWI VINES

Active protection from Fall and Spring frosts is evaluated to reduce damages from low temperatures.
Laboratory preliminary results will be discussed as related to the temperature/time at this temperature needed to damage buds at various growth stages.
Wind machines were found effective as field temperature at vine height was increased 1 to 2°C at a radius of about 150 m.
Temperature at each point was increased up to 2°C every 4’15” (rotation frequency of the wind machine). Early in the morning, when the lowest temperature was reached in the field, air temperature increased with height up to 20 m and was about 5°C higher than air temperature at vine height.
We found no damage in buds breaking late March when they were at a radius of 40 m around the wind machine, small damage at a radius of 100 m and bigger damage at the corners of the 2.5 hectare area.
Frozen buds looked wilted next morning and dried out in a few days.
A month later all these buds had sprouted from a secondary meristem and gave non-fruiting shoots.

III International Symposium on Kiwifruit

G.D. Nanos, E.M. Sfakiotakis, C. Boufidis, K. Tsitouridis

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1997.444.35