Fruit is slightly less cold tolerant than leaves, and trees with fruit are less tolerant than trees without fruit, so in addition to preventing damaged fruit, picking fruit before a predicted freeze will not only save the fruit, but will help protect the entire tree as well. Ripe fruit is more cold tolerant than green fruit because sugars in the juice act like antifreeze and lower the temperature at which it will freeze. Leaves, green wood and fruit are more frost sensitive than hard wood. Although frost-damaged fruit is edible after a freeze, it is susceptible to decay and often becomes unusable soon after the damage occurs. Ice crystals can also form in citrus fruit, causing juice vesicles inside the fruit to rupture and the fruit to dry out. Frost-damaged vegetation withers and turns a dark brown or black. Freezing temperatures damage plants by causing ice crystals to form in their cells.
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