Thanks for the link MrsG. We pick at Red Apple Farm most every year, though it is a bit of a drive for us.
Bumblebees not only can sting, but unlike honeybees their stinger is not barbed and using it does not rip out their GI track. So they live on to sting multiple times.
Generally bublebees are not too aggressive, except near their home entrance. For this reason it is important to not let one build a nest in or near your commonly used pathways (don’t ask how I know this).
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Sting doesn’t hurt too bad, either. Just surprises you.
Hurts if you get a strong sting on a hot day. I’ve gotten into a pair of pants drying in the sun and trapped one- that was the worst sting I’ve gotten from them. I wouldn’t call their sting light, in any case.
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I think you might expect prices of fruit will go up since there is such a calamity in the East and Northwest.
Drew,
I don’t know. I recently started a new job and have been too busy to check on my orchard property.
But Hesse plumcot is grafted in the backyard and it was PAST bloom stage before these late frosts hit.
My backyard is half a zone warmer (ahead of schedule) of my mountain land. I am worried that this is bad timing.
I’ll check on things this weekend to see if there’s been any damage…
Matt, the temps for me have been trending down unfortunately. Now its 26F for Sat.
I was out in the orchard yesterday and noticed the kiwis took a hit - their young shoots are very tender. I may not get much in the way of a kiwi crop this year.
My spot, according to wunderground, will get down to 22 this weekend, which probably won’t make things any worse as things haven’t progressed much since it was in the teens.
I like the above site for getting my forecasts.
I like that site too Alan. They have us getting down to 26 Friday night/Saturday morning, which wouldn’t be bad except that right now I have full bloom on EarliRteat, Redhaven, and PF17, with partial bloom on Madison. (No pollinators noticed, so I’ve been helping them along) State Fair, EarliBlaze, Mac, and Red Del apples are a lot farther along than any other apples but nothings opened up yet. At least we have the veggie garden if we can ever get that in…
Congrats on the new job!
Good luck to everybody.
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We might even get a mix of rain and snow Saturday as far east as Balto. If I am not mistaken, this might actually help insulate our trees against the cold.
Frederick may get down to 23 F.
Catoctin Mountains: All bets are off.
I might dodge a bullet. Or I might suffer big losses (not “farmer big,” but “big” for me and my little orchard). (sad face).
be careful in choosing your weather station from WU, most people don’t mount them properly following the WU guidlines for getting a TRUE temp/precip recording, I know mine isn’t, but i don’t broadcast it to the net, only locally.
otherwise I love WU
doesn’t look like we will go past 29 here, but forecast for maybe an 1" of snow 
Wow, I didn’t notice that, but they chose the perfect station for me (lucky, I guess)- much more relevant than any of the other on-line services I’ve tried.
Article in my local paper today: http://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/fruit-farmers-prepare-for-cold-snap-in-berks-county&template=mobileart
Now 1-2" (maybe more) of SNOW tomorrow and lows of 23F tomorrow night. Should I be worried that it is Mother Nature’s birthday present to me? Maybe 15-18 years ago there was measurable snow on my birthday, doesn’t happen often.
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Haha. You suckered me in Kelby…but the article is only a 3 line tease before telling me I need a user name and password.
By the way, happy birthday! Mine is next week.
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Bah, they do that. If you google the article title and go to the first link it’ll give you whole article.
Happy Birthday Kelby.
Tony
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Ditto! And thanks for all the help. And you too Dave! Don’t tell us your wish when you blow the candles out. Although I think we all know what it is, and we’re counting on your wish!
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So how do you know for sure if your blossoms suffered damage? This is from an article issued recently by PennState.
Peach Bud Survival
Compare the number of live buds to the number a fruiting lateral should carry based on the target yield per acre
- To get a good estimate, examine about 150 to 200 flower buds per variety per block.
- Collect one strong fruiting lateral (pencil thick and 24 to 32 inches long) from each of two sides of 5 representative trees per block.
- Bring the fruiting laterals into a heated building, place them in buckets of water, and allow them to warm up.
- Count and record the total number of flowers and unopened buds on a branch.
- Examine the ovule in the center of each flower, and count the number that are healthy.
- Compare this number per fruiting lateral to your desired crop load. If, for example, you have 12 live flower buds on a fruiting lateral that should carry 3 peaches at harvest, then you have four times as many live flower buds as are required for a full crop.
Here is an example of how this technique was used following a 2014 freeze event.
Apple Bud Survival
Compare the number of live buds to the target number for the branch diameter, using an Equilifruit disk
- Collect one 3/8 to 1/2 inch diameter branch from each of two sides of 5 representative trees per block. Select branches that have 20 to 30 flower clusters (at least 100 buds). Preferably, there should be no heading cuts on these branches, so this technique works best with tall spindle-trained trees.
- Bring the branches into a heated building, place them in buckets of water, and allow them to warm up.
- Dissect the buds and count the number of king and side bloom with live pistils.
- Measure the diameter of the base of the branch with an Equilifruit disk to determine the number of fruit needed on that limb to set a full crop. Compare the number of live buds to this number. If, for example, you have 30 live flower buds on a branch that should carry 6 apples at harvest, then you have five times as many live flower buds as are required to have a full crop.
Link to article with pictures
http://extension.psu.edu/plants/tree-fruit/news/2016/assessing-fruit-bud-survival-and-crop-potential
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I just decided to buy my own WU node… Amazon shipping for arrival Saturday so I can have the full temperature curve for the Sat night freeze. I have noticed spring dieback on poms and kiwis and with the exact local temperature curve I should be able to nail what the bad temps are. Plus exact rainfall, summer heat units etc.
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