KEWADIN, MI -- Tuesday night’s frost advisory had cherry farmers on standby.
At Cherry Ke, Inc. in Kewadin, directional fans were in place to keep frost from sticking to the trees.
“We have an inversion fan that will bring the warm air down and then we use a directional fan to help pull the warm air through the cold spots in the lower valleys. The theory is to prevent the frost from settling on the cherry trees,” said Bruce Veliquette, Cherry Ke, Inc.
A night of frost can be very costly for farmers. Other than the damage potential, Veliquette said each one of his fans uses four gallons of gas an hour. That means thousands of dollars worth of gas can be used in one night to fuel his farm’s 75 fans.
Farmers like Veliquette said they are almost out of the frost threat season. By June, they see the days grow longer and nights grow warmer.
