Spring? What spring? 
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Freezing rain and sleet 
. My trees were covered with an ice layer, so I went out and started sprinkling them with warm water via a watering can. Some ice melted, but not everything. I hope some blossoms will be savedā¦ Last year I lost 95% of my blossoms for freezing rain around the same time of the year.
If your last year was like mine Ahmad it was a lot colder, and the trees were further along when the cold came. So far I donāt think there is anything to worry this year: my apricots are just showing a touch of dark pink and the 10% kill at that spot is 22F. It has gotten down to 24F this month for me but no colder. The forecast here is low 27-29F every day for the next 10 days.
The thin ice is no problem unless it turns to thick ice which can cause limbs to break. We just transitioned from sleet to snow here, 4-8 inches of snow expected.
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I donāt know about you, Zack, but Iām feeling really happy this morning. According to both the weather service and my own cheap thermometer, we ended up only getting down to 30 degrees here. If true, then from what I know we probably didnāt get any damage last night! They were calling for 27 which might have done me since most of my stone fruit is blooming or at petal fall- one of the more sensitive times for cold damage. For once I may have had some GOOD luck. Plus, just as you said yourself, the 10 day forecast here shows nothing below even 35. That would get us through to April. While the threat of freeze damage is certainly not over on April 1, it certainly gets a lot less likely every day after that. I better not gloat too much or Iāll jinx us, but Iām feeling a lot better now.
All this being said, I still canāt really tell how much damage I took last week when it hit 27 here.I definitely got some, just donāt know how much. But I had some peach trees that were still closed then and were opened last night, so Iām sure last night was good for me.
btw, Zack, Iāve sort of forgotten. I know most of your trees are pretty young, but I donāt know how young. What all are you expecting/reasonably hoping to get fruit from this year?t
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Yes definitely Kevin! I am very much relieved to see the temps stay at or above 30 degrees and tomorrow mornings low is now 32 instead of 31. My extended forecast has above 38 degrees through April 4th now. Our average last frost date is April 5th so we could be in great shape.
Realistically for stone fruit I donāt expect much fruiting this year. Moorpark Apricot (just a few flowers). How has your Moorpark done? My methley plum for 2nd year in a row has no flowers, Santa Rosa plum had a few but none look like they will fruit. Peaches look like they may have some fruit. Pears are in 2nd season of graft so I dont expect any. First year on Pecans and Black Walnuts. My blueberry orchard is in its 4th summer and I expect great things from it. Last years RabbitEyes led the way with a good harvest. I replaced all but 3 Southern HB and now just 1 Northern HB with more Rabbiteyes. I canāt say enough about the ease of RBeyes for me in greater Clarksville, TN area. Just tremendous growth and berries. Now over 6 feet tall (ten of them) in just 4th summer.
Jujubes-----I have a Honey Jar (sister of your HJ I believe), A Li and a mystery Jujube and I cant expect much fruit from them but who knows. I have a Red Mulberry, Dwarf, Illinois Ever and will graft a Geraldi onto a Red Mulberry seedling. Maybe the mulberries will produce some berries this year. I think they will at least a few. Any more updates on your figs? I know your Chicago Hardy has dominated and frustration from all others. Almost forgot I planted A Saijjo this year too along with a Prok and Fuyu. I know you raved about that Saijjo so hope I have similar results.
Thanks for the comforting commentsā¦ I agree that the buds were more advanced last year (~50% of the apricots were open), but for the nectarines I thought they were still swollen as they are now. I do not remember the temperature though. My conclusion for last year was that as the ice layer melted it absorbed heat from the buds cooling and killing them, and that is what got me very anxious yesterday. I think the ice layer is thinner this time, but I wonāt be able to relax until I see the bloom after this long winter endsā¦
Same here. Except 12+ inches expected.
Looks like forecast got updated from 12 to 6 inches. Somehow I am not feeling bad about it .
We got about 8 inches and expecting may be another 4 inches. Apricots and Cotton candy aprium are about 25% bloom while other fruit trees are still sleeping.
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About 4" so far on Arlington. I have about a half dozen figs and poms in my basement that have woken up and are getting very leggy without much light. Dogās happy though.
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We too got about 4ā so far. Expecting more. Kids didnāt want to lose day light. They got right to business and working on a snowman right now.
Note the peach tree covered in snow. Glad I didnāt do copper yesterday.
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I will start loosing blooms/fruits on my peaches looking at the weather forecast. Many of my peach are between first pink and first bloom (using MSU bloom). Ahhg!
March has not been kind to Virginia. Things arenāt much better here in Richmond.
Itās been snowing pretty much all day, but since the ground is somewhat warm, and due to the temps hovering around 40, none of it has stuck. Itās mostly just been a damp, mucky, cold day. Weāre kind of in an area that avoided any accumulation.
Low temps are forecast to be around 28 the next three nights, but after that the highs are slowly ramping up to the 60s in a weekās time. Hope this will be the last of the frozen precip. The last of the freezes? Not likely.
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Here it is
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I feel your painā¦!! However in my experience 25F wonāt cause too much damage before bloom. Maybe the charts say otherwise. I havenāt looked at them in a while. 95% of my losses have been after bloom started not before. And Iāve seen losses 30 to 40 yrs since 1971. It would be worse but I spent 4 yrs in CA. No losses there.
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The west coast system is presently moving north-east, dumping significant snow on the Sierra Nevadas.
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Just checking the GFS nowā¦ehā¦ next week looks springāish around hereā¦temps in the 50Fs, but maybe some rain. 1st week of April looks more like Feb ā¦ starting to think a late bloom is very likely around these parts. In the south facing part of my yard i can see the grass showing a tad amount of some greeningā¦so signs are out there.
NAEFS agrees with GFS///it brings winter back to central Canada for early Aprilā¦yuck.
A nice sunny, but cool and breezy day here today, after dropping to 27 this morning. No snow left over from yesterday, even though not much stuck. Got into the 40s, same for tomorrow.
But, for early Saturday theyāre calling for snow to come in from the SW, and last most of the day. We could get up to 4" when itās finished. That wonāt last long, as itās going to get up into the 60s in a week.
The Pacific storm mostly bypassed us, only 1/9th inch rain here locally. I have to irrigate tomorrow. But watch out! It is headed towards the Midwest, Midsouth, and eventually the Atlantic on multiple fronts.