We got to 14 or 15 last night. Jefferson plum (euro) was the farthest along, even farther along than asian plums. To me they look a little worse for the wear, but I’m not sure to what extent. Here are some pics, I’m going to see if they bloom indoors. Other euros seem to be far behind and should be all right, but I have 3 Jeffersons that have grown twice as fast as the others and were full of flower buds so I’m hoping at least some survive.
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Does having three Jeffersons speak more to your love of the fruit or your success at grafting it?
Well, in 2012 I planted the first tree, then it died back after the first of two brutal winters (maybe -20). Everywhere I scratched was brown, so I figured the whole tree was dead and cut it back to about a 24" stick, 3/4" caliper with no branches. That year (2013) it grew new branches like crazy, maybe 6 ft. Since it came back so well, in 2014 I bought two more from Trees of Antiquity. That same year (2014), the original bore a few fruits and they were really good. In a few years they have out grown all other trees I planted at the same time (they all are probably 3" caliper right now), but blossomed early last year and got hit with frost. All my other Euro plums have some flower buds, but these three trees are loaded, so I hope they can make it.
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ConwayOrchard my peach buds are at the same stage as yours. They seem to have survived 14 degrees last night. I’m right outside of Philadelphia. Another cold night tonight and then warm weather returns. Hopefully this is it.
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Had a 23 degree night followed by 26 the next night. Peaches were somewhere between pink and full bloom depending on variety. I can not draw firm conclusions from the bloom charts but I’m sure that a portion of the peaches are history. Redheaven and Contender were about a week behind the others due to their high chill hours so they will do the best. I tested copper as and aid in reducing damage from ice nucleation bacteria, but I’m not sure if it helped.
SHB blueberries were in full bloom so their first wave of fruit got clobbered. The Rabbiteye did a little better, and most were around early to pink bud, but 23 degrees is going to be a problem.
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The forecast for next weekend looks even more brutal. Calling for temps down to 6 degrees.
Take a look at the below link. Will this way of protecting Buds work with peaches, apricots etc?
ConwayOrchard, my peaches are at the same stage as yours, hope they are ok. My plums are at much advanced stage, not sure whether their buds survived. We were at below 16F for more than 4-5 hours, lowest is 12 F. guess I will know soon.
Sorry to hear that Rick, let us know things do. Do you have the setup to do massive sprinkling?
It looks as if we’re going to see another weekend of cold weather. They’re predicting snow and lows around 25 degrees on Sunday.
I know the cold wont get your blossoms here today, but the 30mph winds with gusts into the 50s might just “dirt blast” the blossoms right off the tree! Visibility is probably a mile or less in some areas from the blowing dirt. Days like this are hard to deal with, I cant image the dust storms of the 1930s.
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As it sits right now (12z gfs that just came out)…looks almost a replica of this past weekend…but the i think one thing that is different is snow cover. Wants to lay a path of snow from Ohio, Penn, NJ… We’ll see…still 5 days out.
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I don’t have a pond so overhead irrigation is not possible. It takes 60 gallons per minute or more to cover about an acre.
78F with storms moving through Omaha…should be around 20F there Sunday morning… yikes! Tornado watch for Iowa/parts of MN …
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You are correct. Crazy weather. 50 miles winds and hail storm right now. Too warm out side at 76 degrees today which adding fuel to the storms.
Tony
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Yeah…look at the temp difference across N America…winter jacket in N Dakota, Shorts in MN…we keep this up and this spring will be filled with tnads…
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We just broke the high temp record at 78 degrees which were set in 1972. The weatherman sad the winds was 78 mph like hurricane winds. But it just move on towards Iowa now. Thanks goodness.
Tony
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Yes. Overhead irrigation works on peaches, but the weight of the ice can be destructive to the tree. In my state, overhead irrigation is common on blueberries, but wind machines are used a lot on tree fruit.
One problem with overhead irrigation is the large amount of water required - normally 12-15 sprinklers per acre, with each sprinkler using about 5 gallons/minute. Sprinklers are started at about 34 degrees and stopped when the ice melts. If the sprinklers are stopped before the ice melts, the damage can be worse than not using the water. Also all the water has to go somewhere, which can cause another set of problems.
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Apparently not all the wind moved on or you have more headed your way because the winds and tornado warnings are still here ripping through Kansas. My thorny blackberries are catching all the trash in 12 counties as luck would have it lol! I saw a pack rat realized it and is building a new and very large king pack rat nest out of blackberry canes and trash @%£¥ !!! Bonfire spot I guess once the wind let’s up.
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Oh just wait till it switches from the northwest. It did a couple of hours ago here. You will get to repeat this morning except from a different wind direction.
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