Frosty Nights rewarded Frith Dollimore with 1st in the Living World section (yr 9 - 11), Best Horticultural Exhibit, BEST EXHIBIT IN FAIR and a $ 1000 scholarship from Marlborough Lines.
Frith is a 15-year-old from Marlborough Girls' College, who faced the real problem of having young trees in their olive grove die from frost damage.
The aim of her investigation was to find which type of frost protection was the best for young olive trees. Frith chose 3 types of frost protection then designed an ingenious fair test to measure the temperature around the trees, inside & outside the frost protection, through out the winter when she only had a few thermometers.
To measure the degree of frosting experienced by the plants Frith designed a 5 point frosting scale based on the colour and condition of trees.
Using the temperature data from inside & outside the frost protection and the plant condition Frith was able to reach some valid conclusions.
Frith found that corrugated sleeves provide the best protection and lids actually worsen the frosting. She suspects this is because the lids trap too much heat during the day putting the plant under more stress which makes it less able to cope with frosting.
Frith did a lot research into her problem, got help with planning from her family and collected results over a long period of time.
Some helpful hints from Frith are "follow the scientific method very carefully, be thorough with your testing, choose a topic you're interested in, and get help early".