An unexpected cold snap has farmers across Windsor-Essex doing what they can to protect their crops.
A frost advisory remains in effect for the region with the temperature expected to drop to -1C Monday night.
Steven Mitchell with Sprucewood Shores Estate Winery in Amherstburg says the vineyard has been hit hard by frost in the past.
He says with the use of fans, unless it's a serious stretch of cold, fruit growers are fairly confident their crops will make it through the night.
"A night of frost won't kill the grapevine at this point in the year, but it can have a major effect the quality of the grape," says Mitchell. "Our primary bud, which is the most fruitful bud the plant can offer, if we have damage and that bud is affected, we're left now with the secondary or tertiary bud, which could come out, that would produce green tissue. Our plants would look great, the problem would be that the fruitfulness would be significantly decreased."
Large fans similar to small windmills do the heavy lifting at Sprucewood and for many other fruit growers in Windsor-Essex, according to Mitchell. "We run those really fast, it sounds like there's a helicopter landing in the vineyard. What it does is it stirs up the air. The stirring up of the air will slightly warm the air and it also reduces the effect of the frost. It takes longer for the frost to set in."
Mitchell says he still worries whenever there is a frost warning, but since he's started using fans to keep the ice at bay, he hasn't taken a major loss.