Send VIDEO REPORT: Springtime Frost Killing Crops at Orchards, Vineyards

Posted: 8:24 PM Apr 9, 2012
Reporter: Phil Levin

VIDEO: Springtime Frost Killing Crops at Orchards, Vineyards 10pm 4/9/12

Local orchards and vineyards are scrambling to keep their plants warm and alive amidst sinking temperatures.

At Wollersheim Winery in Prairie du Sac, Philippe Coquard says as many as 15 percent of their grape buds are already dead. His team has been busy in the early mornings throughout the last week with a wind machine and vine warmer called the Frost Dragon, which shoots warm air up to 70 feet.

He says if temperatures reach 25 or 26 degrees, there is no saving the buds, even with the technology.

Adding to the problem this year is the unusually warm spring. At Wollersheim, the grape buds developed more than a month earlier than usual. The more mature buds are more fragile and susceptible to the cold.

DNR officials tell NBC 15 they are granting special burn permits to some orchards and vineyards so they can keep their plants alive. The permit is subject to a site inspection.

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