Wind machines and smoke pots

[Hummer]

Back on the farm outside Palisade to do some work over a few days. It must have dropped below freezing because I was awakened around 1 a.m. this morning by the rumble, the roar and the metallic whir of wind machines starting up. Big fans on 40-80 ft. towers pull warmer air from the atmosphere above to mix with cold air on the ground to protect fruit tree buds from killing frost. Sometimes, depending on conditions, it takes only a 2-3 degree difference to save a crop for the year.

Hundreds of wind machines dot the orchard and vineyard areas. Many of the wind machines are run on propane, others on diesel, and the more sophisticated units monitor conditions and start up automatically. We enjoy an expansive vista from our house on a hill overlooking the Grand Valley. I can see about 40 wind machines from here. Stepping outside, it sounds like we're on a military helipad with dozens of Chinooks preparing to take off. It's at once thrilling, yet eerie, ominous and almost somber as the threat of losing a years crop looms over the valley, over so many lives here.

I see that a neighbor just down the hill is using a dozen smoke pots in his backyard peach plot. You don't see that much anymore. Smoke pots are simple 3-4 ft. tall burners that use kerosene or diesel to warm the air near the ground. Decades ago, smoke pots would light up the whole Grand Valley with an amber glow from Palisade to Fruita. Upon the light of morning a pall of black smoke layered over the valley. Commercial fruit growers stopped using smoke pots about 30 years ago as more and more invested in wind machines.

Our few old apricot trees have begun to blossom over the past few days. Those early blossoms and the fruit they would have produced are surely toast now but there's always hope that the remaining buds will survive to flower and bear fruit. The roar of the wind machines is a ritual harbinger of spring in the Grand Valley, and it stirs my soul.

[Irving]

Are there any machines in that photo?

[CS1983]

One of my great uncles was in the citrus industry in Florida. Man lost 1 million dollars in one night due to a freeze that came through.

[Hummer]

Are there any machines in that photo?

There are dozens in that view area but all are obscured by summer time foliage as the photo was taken in mid to late June. I can't get a photo right now that would show much and don't have a photo editor on my tablet to make one suitable for posting.

[buffalobo]

Back in early 80's when we lived in Delta county(rural Eckert/Cedaredge) dad(along with other growers) would monitor weather/temps very closely once buds started coming on. If it was even close phones would start ringing up and down Surface Creek valley.

Growers would compare readings and notes(temps often varied several degrees depending location in valley or on surrounding mesas) to determine if and when to start frost/freeze mitigation.

Those that had wind machines would get them started up and those without would start smoke/smudge pots and everybody would spend the night monitoring their crops.

We owned a small apple orchard which dad leased to a neighbor. Even though the crop was not his responsibility dad worried, fussed and worked along side the other growers.

I always got stuck monitoring the smudge pots and trees in mom's small back yard orchard. Really sucked when weather was more severe than we could mitigate. But nowhere near as bad as those whose income depended upon those trees.

[Irving]

There are dozens in that view area but all are obscured by summer time foliage as the photo was taken in mid to late June. I can't get a photo right now that would show much and don't have a photo editor on my tablet to make one suitable for posting.

I was just curious. No need to go out of your way. i can do an internet search if I need.

[Hummer]

One of my great uncles was in the citrus industry in Florida. Man lost 1 million dollars in one night due to a freeze that came through.

Yes, farming is a little like gambling, you can win big or lose big. When I was a young orchardist preparing to harvest a first bumper crop of apples, a hail storm moved through the valley. Like a forest fire or a tornado on the plains, the hail cut swaths and fingers of destruction shredding fruit and foliage wherever it hit. We lost 80% of our orchard crop in fifteen minutes. It was devastating.

[Irving]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smudge_pot

In 1907, a young inventor, W. C. Scheu, at that time in Grand Junction, Colorado, developed an oil-burning stack heater that was more effective than open fires in heating orchards and vineyards.[2] In 1911, he opened Scheu Manufacturing Company in Upland, California, and began producing a line of orchard heaters.[3] (The firm still exists in 2018.)[4] The use of smudge pots became widespread after a disastrous freeze in Southern California, January 4-8, 1913, wiped out a whole crop.[5] [6]

[buffalobo]

Yes, farming is a little like gambling, you can win big or lose big. When I was a young orchardist preparing to harvest a first bumper crop of apples, a hail storm moved through the valley. Like a forest fire or a tornado on the plains, the hail cut swaths and fingers of destruction shredding fruit and foliage wherever it hit. We lost 80% of our orchard crop in fifteen minutes. It was devastating.

Dad always said that was why he never followed his dad into farming. Couple freezes, snow storms, hail storms in a row could send a guy to the poor house.

[Hummer]

Dad always said that was why he never followed his dad into farming. Couple freezes, snow storms, hail storms in a row could send a guy to the poor house.

That early experience of losing our crop to hail got me investigating the use of hail cannons. Hail cannons are like big chimney stacks that would fire a high explosive blast of propane gas into the clouds to disrupt the formation of hailstones in the atmosphere. Like little sonic booms fired every 1-10 seconds. It wouldn't have justified the investment here because in 25 years of fruit growing we only had two significant losses from hail.