North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Hal Love" <lovehd@comcast.net>]

How about microwave radiation?

http://www.raytheon.com/newsroom/technology/rtn10_tmpwve/

"Tempwave is Raytheon's patent-pending system that uses low-level microwave
radiant heat to prevent frost damage to crops. The system directly transmits
microwave energy from towers located in an orchard or vineyard to crops
without heating the intervening air."

Hal


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jay Cutts" <orders@cuttsreviews.com>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 12:40 PM
Subject: [NAFEX] Protecting plants


> Here is an idea for protecting flowers/fruits from late frost.  Consider
> that even if you try to create a source of heat or to cover the plant to
> keep heat in, the heat may well be lost if there is wind or even just by
> convection.  But what about a radiant heat source?  That would be a
> source that produces infrared radiation. It's like shining a light bulb
> on the plant. The light can't be blown away by wind.  Infrared light
> would just shine on the plant and would warm the surfaces that it touched.
>
> It may not be practical or cheap but I wonder if anyone has experimented
> with this.  Today the winds are whipping around at 30 to 40 mph, as they
> often do here in the spring, and any attempt to trap heat would be futile.
>
> I know there are panels that produce infrared radiation without
> producing any light at all.  Don't know if they make them for outdoors.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jay
>
> Jay Cutts