3 days of freeze coming here starting tonight. I’ll bring in the potted citrus but nothing else in bloom. I expect they’ll stay that way.
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I have left my new grafts outside in the elements every year…even into the low 20’s. Now, maybe tht’s why I have 75 to 88 % success and not 99%…could be. This year looks to be over 90% so far…but if the new growth gets blackened, then not sure what will happen.
I have some 2020 grafts made 5 week ago that have more than 4 inches of new growth.
I am not bringing in any of the 128 grafts I made except for six that I’ve had in a black bag for a week indoors already as an experiment.
What happens, happens. I saw 31 as the number tomorrow night here, but certainly they do miss it pretty often!
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I’m guessing an orchard fan would have a tough time overcoming the effects of the arctic winds we were having with this storm. Next to the warm ground might have been warmer than what was blowing through.
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Sorry to hear about your fruit losses. It seems like it is challenging to grow fruit anywhere these days.
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So very sorry to hear about your temps, Olpea. I had hoped you were a little warmer than we were. We were 25 deg this morning. Looks like 28 for tonight…
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Yeah, anywhere except the most protected locations (i.e. Mediterranean climates, or protection from large bodies of water, like the Great Lakes) have frost losses of tree fruits like peaches. Doesn’t make one feel any better for sure when it happens.
Most folks don’t realize what it costs to stay in operation for a commercial grower. Just since last fall I’ve spent $30K in expenses. Not fussing, just pointing out commercial growers have more cost than most folks would envision.
Based on examinations today, we still have a very small amount of peaches left. Blackberries, although a small percentage of our revenue, look good. We also have some apples which look ok.
Don’t know if it will have an impact, but I’ve decided to plant more tomatoes and sweet corn this year. Those things have never been good sellers for me, but have nothing else to sell this year.
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That is really depressing to hear Mark. I certainly hope you are wrong about that, but given the amount of experience you have, I realize that you know what you are talking about.
I woke up to 23 degrees this morning. With half to three quarters of the blooms open, I am not very optimistic.
Somewhat disappointing, but for me it’s a hobby, not my livelihood. My heart goes out to you, and I hope your losses are far fewer than you anticipate.
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So sorry to hear about your losses, Mark. I wouldn’t think 26 would be that damaging, but I guess the 28 this morn didn’t help either.
If you had 27 degrees at petal fall, and I had 25-27 degrees at shuck split, do you think my peaches are toast too? How can you tell, do you have to dissect them to see, or is it something you can just tell by looking at them?
My apples were ranging from full pink to wide open, they looked mostly okay. But with cooler and cloudy weather most of this week, I don’t know if pollinators will be out much.
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Looks like real temperature is lower than the forecast . I have a thermpro outdoor temperature monitor. Current temp in weather channel shows 35, thermpro reading is 32…Later forecast is 23. …
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Right now predicted overnight lows for next 5 days are 32 (maybe clear skies), 29,28,31,33 (hopefully all cloudy for those), but Accuweather has it even a few degrees colder in the middle of the week.
Here’s where I’m at:
Jerseycot apricot → post bloom, possible fruitlets in the shuck
Very small Zard apricot tree → a little behind Jerseycot
Shiro plum and various pluots → post bloom
Superior and Kaga plum → 90% full bloom/post bloom but maybe 10% not bloomed yet
Toka and some other American hybrid plums → 80% bloom
Hanska graft → 75% bloom
Jefferson plum → post bloom, but always some stragglers very late
MacKay and Reliance peach → 90% bloom
Indian free peach → 80% bloom
Veteran peach → 60% bloom
Madison and Contender peach → 50% bloom
Redhaven 40% bloom
Blushingstar peach → full bloom maybe even post bloom
Apples → tight cluster, maybe just showing a little color
Pears → green cluster
Sweet and tart cherries → swollen bud to bud burst, don’t see any color yet, carmine jewel slightly more advanced
Euro plums → (gages, mirabelles, Castleton, damson, etc…) anywhere from swollen bud to tight cluster to first white, none really blooming yet, maybe Early Laxton 10-20% bloom
Prunus Americana → tight cluster
Concord grapes → not much yet
Gooseberries → not quite blooming yet but close
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After a few days you can tear the fruitlets open with your fingernail. When dead the centers will be black.
If you tear damaged fruitlets open the morning after the freeze, they won’t have black centers, but will have dark green sort of mushy centers.
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Really feel for all the losses you all have had in this cold snap. This week, I’m planning what fruit trees (peaches, in particular) to plant at this house we moved into, and tonight looks like it will get down to 14. Maybe this is my warning to not bother!
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I’m just terribly sorry to hear about your losses, and you too @tonyOmahaz5. I distinctly remember both of offering condolences when I’ve been hit with late frosts, so I sincerely wish there was something I could say to make you feel better.
For what its worth, they are predicting 27 for us tomorrow night and most of my stone fruit is at shuck split or just past, so its very likely I’ll be right there with you both. But maybe we will all have better outcomes than it looks now?? Good luck. Sorry for your losses.
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Okay, thanks, I’ll check them tomorrow, hope they turn out better than I’m expecting. It’s been a couple of days, so that should be long enough to know for sure.
I have a Contender, Redhaven and Blushingstar, they’re supposedly more hardy than other varieties. Would this matter if they were at shuck split at 26 degrees?
It’s supposed to be right at freezing tomorrow night, so hope the forecast is more accurate this time. They missed Friday night by 7 degrees (33 forecast vs 26 actual). Guess I’ll need to cover the strawberries again, it seemed to work the first time.
It’s been a rough few days here, looks like we lost our pears, plums and maybe peaches, and perhaps some apples. Plus last night, one of my apple trees got snapped off at the ground by fierce winds. That makes the second apple we’ve lost this year.
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When it rains, it pours. I hope they are wrong the other way for you tonight, hopefully you don’t get a freeze.
We are supposed to get a freeze for the next 3 nights.
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Actually it’s been revised to 29, so we don’t have much wiggle room there.
I noticed some fruit buds showing up on one of my blackberry varieties, I guess they’re okay, but really didn’t need them to start blooming this early. But it’s a primocane bearing variety (Traveler), and these are known for early bearing on the floricanes (second year canes). I also saw some sagging new canes, so I imagine they didn’t like the cold now either.
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I really don’t know if it is appropriate to put a “like” for the posts on this topic. I just want to say I feel so sad for what you all are going through, and hope everything won’t come out that bad.
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I don’t have Blushingstar anymore, but I did check Contender and Redhaven, along with a lot of other varieties. Their petal fall fruitlets look about as fried as any other variety. I think the big advantage of Contender and Redhaven are their relatively late blooms and their winter hardiness.
The MSU freeze damage chart indicates a 90% kill at 25F, but I found in practice blooms and fruitlets are more sensitive to low temps than the charts indicate. Maybe it’s because the charts are based on holding the low temp for 30 minutes in a chiller. Frequently low temps are longer than that in the field. Plus a lot of the time frosts are also involved in the field when temps hit the lows.
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I think most people know that a “like” to a post reporting bad news is really a show of friendship, sympathy or solidarity. At least that’s what I mean when I “like” a post of someone’s misfortune.
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I always have to temper my jealousy for the “early” springs that the middle of the country gets. While those 70 degree days are great to work outside…the inevitable follow-up of April nights with sub-freezing temps are just horrible. We have not sniffed 60 degrees here in Maine…and the 10 day forecast does not show any either.
On the other hand the cool temps have kept the trees at bay…and our night time temps have been relatively warm for us…nothing below mid-high 20s for at least the past few weeks. So although the heavy snow knocked out a few of our trees…the overall situation still looks positive in comparison to many others. I’ll try and get some pictures of where all of our fruit tree budding is at to compare to other parts of the country.
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