Newspaper Article 2010 – Nine copters battle frost

Nine copters battle frost

By Geoff Mercer
Staff reporter, Hastings

Nine helicopters battled frost over Grocorp Pacific’s four Central Hawke’s Bay orchards overnight.

“It was like Vietnam up there,” Grocorp operations manager Andrew van Workum said today.

Frost struck many areas over-night and orchardists used wind machines, diesel-burning heaters and helicopters to protect their vulnerable crops. A 4.1C frost was recorded at the Hastings fire station.

Young tomato plants and asparagus were also knocked by the frost, which descended after midnight.

J. Wattie Foods agriculture manager Peter Scott said about 10 per cent of 52 hectares of tomato seedlings planted since last week in the Napier area were hit by the frost. Some plants had light leaf damage but others had been “knocked hard”.

If clear, still conditions remained tonight, and produced a 3C to 4C ground frost significant damage could arise.

“We’re hoping it will cloud over,” he said.

Asparagus grown in the Bridge Pa area was also damaged by the cold snap and spear growth would be slowed by the cool temperatures, he said.

Mr van Workum was not sure exactly how cold it got last night, but said it was probably colder in Central Hawke’s Bay than in Hastings.

Grocorp’s apple crops were still at the early fruit development stage and the frost was one which needed to be fought, he said.

One Hawke’s Bay helicopter pilot, who did not wish to be named because of animosity caused by the noise of helicopters flying near residential areas, said he started work at 3.30am after he was called by a Hastings orchardist at 2.15am. He worked through till 6.45am.

Helicopters flying over the region’s orchards last night would have come from Gisborne, Taupo, Taihape, Rotorua, Palmerston North and Wellington, he said.

Hourly rates varied from $600 for the smaller Hughes 300 models to $1000 for Hughes 500 and Jet Ranger machines, with the larger choppers charging $1400.

The helicopters roved up and down tree rows. The down-draft produced by their rotor blades mixed the air to prevent it freezing, he said.

The seven to 10 resident Hawke’s Bay helicopters would all have been in the air last night, he said.

Longlands Rd orchardist Louise Wake said many orchardists were caught napping last night as Sunday evening’s cloudy wet conditions appeared to indicate little likelihood of frost.

Growers would be “on their toes tonight” with snow blanketing the region’s western ranges. This spring would be bad for frost because the ground was too dry to retain heat, she said.

Horticultural consultant and Havelock North orchardist Andrew Fulford said frost took hold about 3am today but residual clouds trapped some heat and it was not particularly heavy.

It was a critical time for frost protection with summerfruit and pipfruit both vulnerable. Nectarines and peaches, which were forming inside their protective shucks, were susceptible. Plums and apricots, which were more advanced, would become increasingly resilient as fruitlets grew in size and took longer to freeze.

Braeburn trees were beginning to flower and would be vulnerable to frost. Even without frost, prolonged cool conditions could cause russet damage in apples, Mr Fulford said.

Bridge Pa strawberry grower Brian Brittin said his frost alarm sounded at 2.30am and he started sprinklers to protect his two-hectare crop. The frost at ground level reached 4C.

It started slowly, but once the cloud cleared it descended with a “wallop”. Last night’s frost was the worst of four he had fought but did not cause any damage, he said.

Summerfruit sector chairman John Falls said the frost was a “tricky” one. Some areas of his orchard seemed fine but others were hit hard.

Any frosts from now on were potentially quite serious, he said.

Snow settled in Hawke’s Bay overnight to its lowest level for a couple of months. Frosts were recorded from Dannevirke to Napier.