A video of my plums taken two days ago. The forecast is for 33F tonight. That’s very close! Pray that it does not go down to 28 or even below 30. God bless.
Marcus
2 Likes
I know. Down here, they were actually calling for a frost well inland. It will be chilly, but I don’t think we’ll see those temps where I am…Hope the same holds true for you.
We dipped down to 32F here last night. That was not cold enough to do much damage. One plum tree got nipped just a bit as did a few berries on one huckleberry bush. Other than that there was no damage.
7 Likes
We are forecast for a low of 21F tomorrow morning. I looked at the tables and if it doesn’t go any lower than that I will be OK – 21F is 10% loss on my calyx-red apricots and the other things are all better off than the apricots. There is one more week of cold here and then I should be through the danger as it starts to really warm up then. None of my future forecast lows now are anywhere near 21F, they are upper 20’s, so crossing fingers but hoping for some apricots finally. Two years in a row cot-free is tough to take!
I put out the new squirrelinator traps I bought this morning, to get apricots and early peaches I need to clear out the squirrels by then.
7 Likes
Yes I use my low-impact spray schedule:
Apricots are the easiest stone fruits if they don’t get frozen out, they ripen early enough that rot is not as bad by then. Cherries have a similar rot factor but they split, canker, etc.
1 Like
@scottfsmith
I get very little cherry problems ( fruit fly) but many insects attack my apricots on the rare years I get a crop ( every 3- 7 years ). Cherry fruit flies can lead lead to maggots in the fruit but typically my flies are later than most of my carmine jewell cherries. By the time they hit I’m picking and the cherries are being put in a steam juicer. So the flys have a small window that is timed wrong for their success.
I have nanking cherries that are just ready to pop open. May be another bust on them this year
The sour cherries are much easier, its the sweet cherries that rot badly. For your apricots you need to either use Surround clay, or a poison like Imidan. I would get zero apricots if I didn’t spray.
1 Like
@scottfsmith I have some surround I’ll use. Do you think it will keep the pc off plums also? Every 5 days or every time it rains I assume?
Just go by looks… if it’s covered you are good. If it rains only a little bit there is not much loss. During heavy growth periods you need to spray every 10 days or so even with no rain
1 Like
Using the MSU guide -
I have got peaches from calyx Green to a few a buds that are just opening up for first bloom. Temperature wise I should be ok, the low over the next few days is 25. But what about snow - we have 3 to 4 inches of snow today. Will the snow damage the blooms/buds independent of the temperature? Thanks - Spud
Like last year shiro full bloom and my Howard miracle 10 % bloom. Putting in a satsuma hopefully that will make everything overlap. With my 22 degree nights last month with the bud swell I’m not hopeful to begin with. See more blooms on them though third year in ground.
My satsuma is a week ahead of my shiro here in zone8.
I’m in zone 8 too, nuts well I will get a methley then.
Amazing. My apples are still snoozing, and just one of my 5 pears have just little green buds on them. But, with the way weather is supposed to be like here in mid March, I guess that’s normal. But, also, being about 750mi away might have something to do with it too.
You know when we moved up here 4 years ago, I could care less about spring freezes, unless it’s related to my veggies. Now, with all these fruit trees and plants, I feel like a mother hen brooding over her flock. And, I’m not expecting to harvest much fruit this year anyways.
We got down to probably 24 the other night 
I don’t know how my terrain matches the weather stations near me, though. The small airport not very far from my house said 28, so hopefully I’m more like it than those neighbors.
The blueberry flowers look very good (I can protect little Sunshine Blue all the way to the ground). Some peach flowers look bad and some surprisingly good (Redskin).
The J plums looked good and fresh afterwards, but 2 days later they look spent. But one tree’s blooms were looking old before the deep freeze, so I don’t know how much is due to the temperature and how much is just bloom stage.
If there’s a way of telling whether various blooms are definitely damaged, y’all let me know.
Oh, my hood pear’s flowers are still not opened! They’ve sat there nicely considering how early they formed and our temps. That’s a nice plus, even though it’s just a very few flowers, lol.
Tonight will be the last scary night, hopefully for the whole season! Last night was forecast at 28 and it fortunately was even warmer than that 
Here’s hoping the 28 they have for tonight will go the same way.
Just pull a few off, they will obviously be dead if they got zapped a few days ago. If its alive looking they are good!
1 Like
Was 25 this morn on the hillside, already up to 30 now. The buds on my peaches are still stalled in green bud stage, so they’ll prob be okay. May get a few more skiffs of snow today, and then warm up a little bit.
Looks like New England will be getting another Nor’easter this weekend. Feel sorry for you guys up there.
Happy Pi Day!