We can still get freezes down here into February. Although the way this year is going, I have my doubts…we’re expecting another cold snap at the end of the week where it gets down into the upper 30’s maybe, but nothing that should harm anything.
I’m concerned this winter is a repeat of last year. Many people lost their fruit last year during similar weather. It’s still early Feb and we were 70 degrees today.
How much does cold nights buffer warm days? I am sitting here on my couch in the dark waiting for the sun to check my trees; I just spent three weeks in Kenya and got back to a forecast of 77 today and tomorrow, and high 40s low in the 20s potentially by Wednesday. My peaches were already trying to swell before I left.
I will definitely have peach blossoms by the end of the weekend, fortunately the one that is farthest along is the one getting top worked, so that may work in my favor. The Reliance and Georgia Belle are just barely showing pink in the bud swell, so time to spray today I think. My irises are up from the bulb, and daffodils already have flower stalks coming up.
[quote]RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER/BOULDER CO
220 PM MST FRI FEB 10 2017
…ALL TIME RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE SET FOR FEBRUARY IN DENVER
COLORADO…
AT 1:38 PM MDT THE TEMPERATURE AT DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
REACHED 80 DEGREES. THIS IS AN ALL TIME RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR
MONTH OF FEBRUARY IN DENVER, COLORADO.
THE PREVIOUS FEBRUARY MONTHLY HIGH RECORD WAS 77 DEGREES. THIS
RECORD WAS SET TWICE, FIRST ON FEBRUARY 4, 1890 AND AGAIN ON
FEBRUARY 28, 2006.
THE 80 DEGREES ALSO SET THE DAILY RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR
FEBRUARY 10TH IN DENVER. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 71 DEGREES SET
BACK ON FEBRUARY 10, 1951.
SHATTERING A DAILY RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE BY 9 DEGREES, AS WE HAVE
TODAY, IS PRETTY SIGNIFICANT CONSIDERING DENVER`S CLIMATE RECORD
GOES BACK TO 1872. THAT IS 145 OCCURRENCES OF FEBRUARY 10TH.
BREAKING THE ALL TIME MONTHLY HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORD BY 3 DEGREES
IS NOT TOO SHABBY EITHER.[/quote]
Today is 46 degrees and the warming trends continue for the next 11 days towards 60 degrees. This could be a bad year year for fruit trees if there is a late frost in March or April. I have extension cords, light bulbs, and tarps ready to go just in case of late frost. Btw, the Orangered cot has been hand pollinated with Chinese Sweet Pit Cot and showed baby fruitlets. The Foster peach from Scott’ scion a few year back is about to bloom indoor. I will try to hand pollinate it with both Orangered and Chinese Sweet Pit and will grow some seeds for a new interspecific.
Will you put them outside on the warmer days? I brought a few grafted trees in to get going, but i’m going to leave the fruiting trees out for now because its a lot of effort moving them in and out of the house. This is where a greenhouse would come in handy.
It was over 80 degrees yesterday. I was in the car and turned on the AC because I was so hot. Nankings are the first thing to bloom here, that warm air yesterday really got them swelling.
Yesterday was our warmest day here this year and we hit 47F. We have a layer of ice/snow left that has blunted the warming. Today we have strong NW winds with cooler air… temps look to sit between 32F-40F the rest of the week with plenty of sunshine. Perfect for this time of year.
My potted dormant figs and apples are in my attic because we don’t really do basements here in NC, but I am concerned it’s going to be awfully hot up there. I guess they may need to go out back in the shade until they wake up.