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WILLCOX - Orchard owners in the Willcox area will catch up on their sleep this weekend. They have been working overnight to protect the fruits of their labors from a case of frost bite.

"At Apple Annie's we have 37 acres of fruit trees, and 8 of those acres are peach trees," Apple Annie's Owner John Holcomb said.

Holcomb spent the morning combing through his orchard, checking the buds on his peach trees and checking for damage.

"These are Suncreast peaches and the bloom is right here on the end of this branch," Holcomb said.

Last year they lost 100,000 pounds of peaches due to frost, half of their anticipated production.

"So that's a significant loss," Holcomb said.

He uses 7 of giant wind machines to push warmer air back down into the orchard.

"At 50 feet, some nights we have as much as 10 degrees difference between the ground level temperature and the temperature at 50 feet," Holcomb said.

Undertree sprinklers are turned on in the evening. As the air gets cold and mixes with the warm water, heat is produced.

"And it's kind of like radiant heat coming out of the bottom, out of the orchard floor, up through the canopy of the tree," Holcomb said.

Holcomb's assessment in the morning-- everything is peachy.

"So you can see that nice healthy green tissue indicates that it survived the night," Holcomb said. "I haven't seen any damage so I think we had a great night."

Holcomb will continue to protect the orchard this way through April. Look for the peaches and other fruits to be ready this summer.