Two brothers have ingeniously saved 2,000 of their newly planted apricot trees by surrounding them with hundreds of candles at night to keep from freezing amidst a sudden cold wave.
Christoph and Michael Simon, from Mollram, in the district of Neunkirchen, Lower Austria, have told how the early April cold nearly destroyed their newly planted, delicate organic apricots.
However, thanks to the use of 400 frost candles and a night watch on site among the fragile young plants, they were able to save thousands of them.
As weather forecasts predicted very below-zero temperatures, the brothers feared all their hard work may be lost.
Christoph explained: "We were particularly worried about our organic apricots, which are currently bearing tiny fruits.
"They are even more vulnerable than the blossoms themselves."
Frost candles save apricot trees in Mollram, in the Neunkirchen district of Lower Austria, undated. This effort saved 2,000 fruit trees. Note: Licensed photo. (Most Michl/Newsflash/NX)
On one night, the temperatures indeed dropped to zero degrees, and then was when the brothers began the elaborate "apricot rescue operation".
They had already suffered a major loss last year (2024), when the orchard was destroyed by a devastating storm, and this time around they were determined to save the trees.
Together with his brother Michael and an employee, they headed to the orchard and lit 200 frost candles over an area of one hectare.
Frost candles save apricot trees in Mollram, in the Neunkirchen district of Lower Austria, undated. This effort saved 2,000 fruit trees. Note: Licensed photo. (Most Michl/Newsflash/NX)
But the temperature continued to drop, and Christoph said: "At that point, we had to set up another 200 candles."
Thanks to their efforts, 2,000 fruit trees were saved.
Speaking to NewsX, Christoph said: "In total, we have approximately 5,000 organic apricot trees, but only 2,000 of them were protected.
Frost candles save apricot trees in Mollram, in the Neunkirchen district of Lower Austria, undated. This effort saved 2,000 fruit trees. Note: Licensed photo. (Most Michl/Newsflash/NX)
"We only put the candles on the third of the crop and you can see that on the other two thirds this really is a difference."
He added: "It was an experiment that really shows this works."
(Simona Kitanovska / newsX)