Trembling for the harvest
Why the vineyards in the Wachau are glowing now
Wachau winegrowers are bravely bracing themselves against the bitter cold at night with so-called frost candles. There is a lot at stake. So far, the risk of crop damage has been largely averted.
"Anyone driving through the Wachau in the evening hours can't miss our sea of lights. Because we have hundreds of so-called frost candles flickering in the vineyards," explains the young top winegrower Franz-Josef Gritsch from Spitz an der Donau.
Bitterly cold nights
Nevertheless, it is a race against the regional climate, which has already sent bitter night frosts to the world-famous cultural heritage region several spring days in a row. So far, the defense has been successful, only the very exposed sites at the back of the Spitzer Graben have been hit, says the courageous vine guardian.
Raise the temperature by two degrees
The small, efficient cold defense batteries: These are small tubs that heat up the temperatures in the rows with the power of their flickering firelight and make them almost cozy warm for the vines. "We can raise the temperatures by two degrees Celsius to - for the green shoots - just tolerable minus 1.5. They can withstand that. Below that, they would freeze to death," assures Gritsch. But this "only possible defense against frost" costs him dearly. Up to 6000 (!) euros per hectare to be precise. Gritsch has to place up to 400 of his candles on this exact area. Not to mention the labor.
Waiting for the return of spring
The Wachau winegrowers still have to wait a few nights for their harvest, then - according to the private weather service Ubimet - it should finally get warmer like spring. Gritsch: "Until then, we'll put up the frost candles." He is confident that he will be able to save the yields by "pre-glowing".
Kommentare
Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser,
die Kommentarfunktion steht Ihnen ab 6 Uhr wieder wie gewohnt zur Verfügung.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
das krone.at-Team
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.