Frost Damages and the role of Scudotherm

Plants freeze when they cannot avoid nucleation and cannot prevent the growth of ice.
Some organs and tissues avoid freezing by supercooling, but however, supercooled parts of buds can dehydrate progressively.
The single most important cause of freezing-damage is when this dehydration exceeds what cells can tolerate.
Membrane structure is damaged when freezing-induced dehydration exceeds the dehydration-tolerance of a cell.
The physiological consequence is detectable as leakage of electrolytes and other solutes even before thawing.
A good strategy may be to confer tolerance of cellular dehydration.
Our product Scudotherm is an antitranspirant that when is sprayed on vegetation it self-crosslink and form a semipermeable membrane that regulates the water exchanges.
The membrane formed by Scudotherm limits the entry of the nucleated ice, and therefore reduces the propagation of freezing phenomena.