Well I won’t have to spray as much I guess, it got down to 18 degrees.
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Olpea I have not checked what’s left in 2 days but will let you know. Apricots were wiped out last time I checked and peaches and plums may be done for as well. I’m dreading walking the orchard so I have not done it.
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Two nights in a row below freezing 31 and now 26. Trying to at least learn from this experience some rough tolerance levels of pears and plums. Central Alabama has huge swings in weather and we will be on the tennis courts late this afternoon. Bad and good.
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Very sorry to hear that @Olpea. Hopefully your insurance claim will go through without any major hiccups.
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We had low 20s last night and my ghetto hoop structure kept to 37 at the center scaffolding branch. I definitely hope to have a plan to cover more trees next year. Peaches will have to get awfully expensive before this hobby becomes cost effective 
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A PWS in my neighborhood that reports data to Wunderground showed a low of about 23.5 F. This station always seems a little colder than others in the area and my measurements at my home are usually a little warmer but it was still very cold. Looks like we’re back to upper 60s and 70s soon.
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Really sorry to hear that Mark.
I am going to go out and survey in detail this weekend to figure out what did well and what did not. I have a few peach varieties that are very far behind, they look almost completely dormant. My nectarines are the worst, they are in partial bloom and could be a total loss.
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I’m hoping that Mericrest proves to be as cold-hardy as advertised
Were you far enough along to have any damage? Stuff around here is solidly dormant, but the warmest it ever got was mid 60Fs… so not surprising. Looking ahead it sure looks pretty March like…no heat waves around here…probably no 60Fs until April.
Well it got down to 26 here is Statesboro, the low for the year. Not good!!! I was up at 5 am. The forecast indicated that’s when the freeze was really going to begin. They were wrong on that point. It was already 28, but i think it had just gotten there. I turned a high reaching sprinkler on the Southern Bartlett pear tree and the huckleberries around it. And then I went around the whole morning spraying water on everything else.
Blueberry flowers are brown, I can’t tell if the fruit was badly damaged yet. I think young plums were frozen, but the poor chilling meant I still have as many buds and plums, so I might get something yet from theme. The huckleberries that depended on me going around and spraying everybody down look so so. I will likely know more a little later. The fig trees all look terrible and smell cooked, so i’m guessing I have probably lost all the new growth. Hopefully that’s the extent of the damage. The fruit on the two big pear trees on my cousin’s property are toast, but the leaves are OK it appears. I just can’t tell on the ones I sprayed down because they were all still encased in Ice when I left for work. The new growth on all the citrus next to the house looks OK, but the new growth on the one Arctic Frost further out in the yard looks withered. We shall see on that one.
The forecast is for 32 tonight, so we are not out of the woods yet! God bless.
Marcus
It was 9 degrees at my house this morning, crispy!
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Mostly dormant still here, specially apples, tho some cots might have been burned - will have to wait and see. I was surprised to get some fruits last year when I was sure the Flavor Delight was totally toasted, but it was damn cold Tuesday nite - into the killing range.
Same low here but tonight is showing 36. I’m not sure how my pear fruit will be but many look pretty good. Even the young grafts of Golden Boy and Tenn seemed to have survived. My Poms however look like the new leaves are completely burned. The blueberries are tough and most might be ok but I’m not sure. Not much difference right now on cold tolerance between SHB and Rabbit Eye.
I just looked at my yard again. I think i cause a lot of extra damage with my water experiment. i’m gessing this is the last time I try that. The leaves on the trees that I put water have damage. The ones that I did not put water on at least had undamaged leaves even though I don’t think the fruit will make it. Huckleberries are really iffy. They are tough indeed as are blueberries, but I might have caused some damage with my water.
The citrus look good with the exception of one Arctic Frost orange that had a heavy tarp but not a bucket full of water next to it. It’s new growth looks burned but the older leaves look OK so far. With citrus its often hard to tell for a long time. God bless.
Marcus
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Just spraying a little water here and there during a freeze can make matters worse. Evaporative cooling can be part of the reason. Water only works if enough is applied that it is continuously freezing all night long ie the ice needs to be wet so that more ice can form. Hard as it is to believe heat is released as water freezes. That keeps the ice/water mixture at 32F not colder.
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Mark. You and your family have my thoughts and prayers. I just came out of my orchard and was going to come on here and bellyache about my losses, which are severe. But readying your post really made me think. At the end of the day, my little orchard is just a hobby. Worst case scenario I have to wait a year or two(never know these days) to get fresh stone fruit. But I can buy a (poor) substitute at farmers markets and grocery stores to get me through. I can’t imagine what it feels like to see those cold weather reports or look at those dead blooms and lay in bed thinking of all the money you’ve spent and will be loosing. You’re clearly a good person so you probably even have some guilt wondering if you have wasted family resources pursuing your dream of owning a profitable (you hope) orchard. Your last couple posts just drip with your pain and frustration and introspection of whether its even worth continuing. Obviously some guy 3 states away who you only know by trading a few posts on an internet site can’t say anything that’s going to make a difference or influence your future decisions in a meaningful way. But I still just had to remind you that there are a lot of people here who appreciate you and your expertise and most of all your willingness to share it with us. You have helped almost everyone on this site at one time or another, and don’t think for a minute that we don’t all appreciate it, or that we don’t all feel your pain and wish you well. Please try and remember those good years when harvests were large and business was good. Remember how excited you must have been when you decided to plant an orchard and try to make it pay for itself. Think of the joy of looking out at trees filled with fruit and families with kids enjoying the peaches in that orchard. There is a reason most people on this site daydream about having what you do- an orchard where they can practice their hobby, play with fruit trees every day, and try to make a few bucks along the way. And before you feel guilty for picking an impossible business, remember that almost all business have good times and bad. I’m sure your life savings and survival aren’t dependant on the profitability of your orchard, but lots of smart people did gamble their life savings in dot com businesses in the 90’s, and thousands of smart businessmen had their life savings in real estate in the 2007-2012 mortgage and real estate crash. How many chef’s follow their dreams and open a restaurant even though it is the #1 business in America to go bankrupt every year. Some of those chefs even try it again and again- because it is their passion- just like fruit is yours. My point is just to remind you that you aren’t the only one to pick a business filled with risks, problems, and occassional (big) losses. Obviously I can’t tell you whether to keep going or throw in the towel, but I sure hope you give it a lot of thought and consider all the good times and advantages of being in a business you are passionate about and don’t surrender just because of the feelings of despair and depression that comes during those first days after a big crop loss. We all know in 2-3 weeks you and the rest of us will slowly process and begin to accept those losses, and there will be better weather and better times in the future (we hope).
In my usual way I’ve taken way too many words to say what really should have only taken a few. My point is to just remind here that we all appreciate you and hope you’ll think long and hard about the good times and the bad and not let a couple bad years chase you out of doing what you love. Good luck, Mark!
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I have a complete lose of fruit and may have lost a few trees. My pomegranates and figs really took a hit. We dropped to 22 degrees last night.
Tiger,
Hopefully, they will resprout from the base of the trees.
Tony
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My trees will recover over time but I think we also lost our wheat crop, still trying to determine the damage.