How can you protect tomato plants from freezing?
Mr. P.R. Makaya, an expert on fruit and vegetable production in Zimbabwe, explains why the water in the bottles freezes while the tomatoes are not attacked by frost: “When water has things dissolved in it, it freezes at a lower temperature than when it is pure. The water in plant cells, tomato cells in this case, contains dissolved salts. But the water in the bottles is pure, or at least has much less dissolved matter. In frost conditions, pure water freezes earlier than water in plant cells. So in the morning you find the water in the bottles is frozen. When water freezes it releases a lot of heat. The heat released when the water in the bottles freezes keeps the air around the tomatoes warmer than the surrounding area”.
