That really sucks. I’m sorry man! I just had this hunch (as did many i think) that with all that warmth, no good would come of it. Hopefully your other stuff makes it or get a bunch of veggies growing. Who knows…maybe this is the bottom and we get a bunch of avg winters/normalish springs and this will become a distant memory.
I’m sorry to see this Speedster. The weather is over the top this year. The cicada damage I too can relate too.
Heart breaking. Another whole year! We all know the feeling, not that it makes you feel better. If I had my orchard to plant again, I’d still plant the same trees! It will happen!
I think a lot of things change the temps. Over the long term temps have risen, but actually are kinda neutral the last decade. Overall global warming should produce a more productive earth. But yeah another discusion. I have no energy for one.
Have you ever seen halos around the sun? I never did till the last few years and I saw it twice, I guess it’s ice crystals in the troposphere. Very cool looking!
Here’s a photo from the net, I have one somewhere I took, I could not find it.
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I’ve seen several of those, and with the moon too.
Definately recognize that cicada damage and fruit damage. That is hard to look at it and I’m sorry to see it. How are the other fruits doing? We are hanging at 21 degrees this morning. The warm up is reportedly on it’s way.
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I have been on the sidelines watching your post about freezing weather but now it is coming home. Low tonight 26 and 25 tomorrow. Pretty sure this will killl my few plum blooms and I’m not sure about my early flowering pears that are in full bloom. This weather makes me appreciate having some trees that bloom late such as the apples and a few pears.
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Bill,
Its difficult to see this dicey weather destroying so many fruit growers crops. Seems like the freezes are running later each year and winters have been milder. We will be back up to 76 by the end of the week from 21 today. Its very strange weather.
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Low 12 here coming up tonite. That’s right in the killing zone. Will have to see how it goes, if the buds are still dormant enuff
The local forecasters are talking about breaking records here. So somewhere around 0F. The WU forecast has a 5 mph wind going. So I’m hoping it is right and we keep a little mixing going. If we go completely into radiative mode with no wind, I’m doomed. I will probably hit the negative single digits F. That will fry everything.
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To me, it seems like seasons change with lunar cycles instead of solar cycles now. 
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I had 8F here…tonite showing 6F. After that it looks pretty good…right back to 50F by Sunday…should get rid of this snow by then.
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It would seem like more cold hardy varieties should be considerations for those suffering more unpredictable winters and late freezes. We all like to push the Zone envelope, but at some point it is better to err on the safe side…otherwise you might never get any fruit!
Yup,
Zone pushing for a while then, reality and Mother Nature slaps us around 
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Yes me too, and agree. The trick is to have a base of hardy fruit. I also still seek good ones. But I’m not going to stop zone pushing. Some are really worth it, and others are not. For example I grow figs and get hundreds of figs each year off of young and small plants. I can see a day where I harvest over 2000 figs. Yet they are not even close to being hardy here. Easy zone pushers. Other stuff, not so much. One has to choose their battles wisely.
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I hear you there. I view peaches as annuals around here. One reason i container grow so much.
This covers about the last week of March…looks like the northeast stays pretty chilly.
Yeah, I was so thankful for my potted nectarines last year. They accounted for almost all of my stone fruit harvest.
If I was a commercial grower I would think more in that vein. But as a residential grower as disappointing as losing a crop is I have enough late blooming varieties that I’ll still get summer and fall fruit to eat. I’ve tried to make some late blooming choices but I love pluots, apricots, and Japanese plums. I don’t want to abandoned them because they sometimes freeze out. And I do not want to plant fruit that I don’t care for just because they are more likely to produce reliably.
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A tree full of apria is worth the risk and the occasional lost season
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Story out of Missouri
South Carolina
http://www.thestate.com/news/state/south-carolina/article138347943.html
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