# How do smudgepots in orange groves prevent fruit from freezing?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-smudgepots-in-orange-groves-prevent-fruit-from-freezing/150892>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 25, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-smudgepots-in-orange-groves-prevent-fruit-from-freezing/150892 "2003-01-25T19:15:32Z")\
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**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2003, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-smudgepots-in-orange-groves-prevent-fruit-from-freezing/150892/6 "2003-01-25T23:14:09Z")

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Another thing they do to prevent frost (I’m not sure which crops this is for, strawberries maybe) is…When they know there’s going to be frost coming they water all the plants, this creates a layer of ice over the crop that will insulate them from the frost.

How exactly the crops can be hurt by the frost but not the ice I’m not exactly sure, maybe it keeps them from drying out as well.

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