Assessment of the effectiveness of sprinkling to protect apple blossoms against spring frost

Spring frosts can cause very significant losses on fruit farms. The most common method of active protection against frost is sprinkling. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a sprinkling system used to protect apple trees against the effects of a spring frost. The experiment was conducted on the Mączewscy Fruit Farm. The orchard in which the observations were made is equipped with a system of sprinklers. When the temperature readings showed values close to zero, the sprinkler system was activated. Due to a limited water supply, one row of sprinklers had not been activated, and thus some of the trees were not sprayed at all. The assessment of fruit yield carried out in the autumn of 2015 demonstrated high effectiveness of the sprinkling used to protect apple trees against the spring frost. The frost had damaged most of the flowers of the unprotected trees, which resulted in a decrease in yield of as much as 85-93%.