Fire and ice: a Slovakian orchard's innovative fight against frost

Fire and ice: a Slovakian orchard's innovative fight against frost

Working through the night, staff at a Slovakian orchard carefully place paraffin flames under cherry trees.

The candles are just one tool in the fight to save the trees' precious buds against spring frost.

To maintain a temperature between -1 and 0 degrees, workers use candles, pellet stoves, and smoke machines for the cherry trees, while apple trees are covered in ice, a procedure which creates a bubble around the buds, maintaining the most sensitive parts at a temperature of 0 degrees.