Washington cherry farmers fight frost

Here.

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"I feel very lucky," Pringle said. "I've haven't been doing this long -- only 41 years -- but I don't think I've seen a March that has been this cold, this long."

Pringle and Olmstead have been fighting off the freezing night temperatures with water, which when it freezes releases heat, which rises and protects the trees. Wind machines, used in conjunction with the water, pull the rising warm air back through the orchards.

Other growers are using orchard heaters filled with propane or farm diesel, said Jim Kelley, a Pasco grower and consultant. "That's pretty expensive," he said.

With propane at nearly $2 a gallon, it can cost up to $800 a night to heat an acre.

But growers are doing anything they can to save every bud, he added.