How do farmers protect their tea from frost?

Dear our valued customers,

We hope you are doing well.

In Kagoshima we have a warm mild climate weather in nowadays compared to the usual years. How about the situation in tea field? One of the serious threats especially from this season is frost. It usually forms because of the temperature difference between daytime and nighttime. Especially, new shoots are delicate, if the shoots are damaged by frost as they are growing toward the first flush tea, it will greatly affect the amount of the crops and also the quality of the harvest.

　＼How do farmers protect their tea from frost?／
In order to prevent the influence from frost, there are mainly two ways.

“Frost Protect Fan”
You might have a chance to seen the tall Mechanical fan which is 6 to 8 meters high above the tea field. It helps to bring warm air from the high level to the tea field level and keep the temperature warm not to be affected by frost.

“Sprinkler Freezing System”
This is the method that uses the heat released when water turns to ice then to keep the temperature not to below 0℃ (32°F). If watering is done on nighttime continuously, when it is predicted frost, tea leaves get covered with water and ice, which the temperature for the tea keeps about 0℃ (32°F) so that it prevents frost damage. It is told that there are many challenges such as securing large amount of water, and drainage systems but it can be seen common in Kyushu region.

Even though both ways can be automatically set machinery however, the farmers told us that they need to check whether they are working properly by their eyes even in a midnight. Thanks to the generous care of them, we will be able to receive delicious tea. We appreciate it and also look forward to seeing the first flush tea. Thank you very much for reading.