Losses in fruit trees caused by excessive heat can also be prevented

If there is something worth noting in the current Spanish citrus season it is the significant overall decline in the orange production, more severe in the case of early clementines and mandarins. "The flowering was very good and we were expecting a really good harvest, but heat waves in May, with temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, caused severe losses for some varieties, in some cases exceeding 60% of the harvest," explained agronomist Carlos Arenes, inventor of the Mixed system for Heat and Frost Control, in an interview to FreshPlaza.

"With temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius, plants close the stomata of the leaves to prevent dehydration, as the loss of water is greater than what it is able to capture from the soil; however, fruits are unable to do this and those that suffer from dehydration die and fall to the ground."

"With our mixed Heat and Frost Control system, we manage to apply water on the plant." In the words of Carlos Arenes, "every gram of water we evaporate on the plant takes heat away from it, as each gram of water evaporated absorbs 590 calories. If we apply 12 cubic metres per hectare per hour, we reach 12,000 litres, which is 12,000,000 grams of water. If every gram absorbs 590 calories, this give us a total of 7.08 billion calories absorbed per hectare every hour," estimates the agronomist.

With this system, it is possible to reduce the temperature of the land exposed to day temperatures of around 40 degrees to about 24 and 25 degrees Celsius. In the shade it will be a little higher, about 27 degrees, "since the sun is the main evaporation factor, followed by the wind," explains Carlos Arenes.

"With these figures, we can understand everything a little better," he says. "It's not easy, because we need that water to evaporate as much as possible in the crop without saturating the atmosphere with moisture, because if that happens, plants are unable to evaporate and the process stops."

"One of our customers set it up in a Clamenmeles clementine plantation and disconnected only a few rows to be able to see the results of using our system. The rows where the mixed control system was active had a far superior yield than in previous campaigns, while the rows where the system was not active had barely any fruit on the trees," assures Arenes.

The system has also been tested on other crops, like apricots. "Excessive heat causes a very rapid internal maturation, loss of consistency and fruit drop. Those who decided to use our system visibly obtained good results. It can also be used with various fruit crops, such as apples, to give them more colour, etc."

More information:
Carlos Arenes
Control Heladas
T: +34 962530388
M:+34 629632886
carlos@controheladas.com
www.controlheladas.com
www.facebook.com/controlhelada