I'm in the Detroit area, not that far north of Cinci, but we have barely hit the 60's let alone the 70's or 80's. It's been about 45 degrees as the average high the last couple weeks. It's 41 degrees as I type this. The south only has a warm spell. We had a fairly cold winter, no extremes really, but no warm days just a constant chill.

Milehigh:

That's only 3F off the all time record low for April in Denver. So that's very unusual even for you. There probably will be bud kill but hopefully not tree damage.

It's in the teens and snowing in far northwest Texas this morning. I'm hoping the winds switch back to the southwest before it gets here.

We had 1 1/2 to 2 " hail last night for about 10 minutes straight. I pretty sure I got some fruit trees damaged. My roof probably needs to be replaced. No broken windows in the sun room. I will take a look at the orchard after work today. Bummer!!

Tony

Milehigh,

I can't believe the difference in weather b/t Denver and KC. I'm mostly east of you (just a little south) and we are at about 42F right now. I think you are taking the brunt of this cold front this time.

I don't think there is any worry about your trees surviving. Hopefully they will still crop for you this year, but 7F sounds pretty borderline for peaches that are showing first bud swell.

You've probably already reviewed MSUs bud hardiness chart this morning. They show temps must be at 1F before a 90% bud kill at first swell. Hopefully your pomes are dormant enough there's little danger of crop loss there.

This post was edited by olpea on Wed, Apr 10, 13 at 9:37

Dang. You all keep that weather to yourselves, hear? It's supposed to hit 88 here today. Though that's going too warm as far as I am concerned, but I'll take it.

milehigh: I was keeping an eye on your weather too. Crazy. Here in NM we stayed 20 degrees warmer than you yesterday and last night, even though our weather is usually quite similar. Good luck with the peaches, I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot of other sad looking things when the weather warms.

{{gwi:80177}}

HIGH TEMPS yesterday..notice Texas (108F and WY 9F)

Not sure your fruit buds are going to handle that, if they were advanced at all...if they were still fully dormant, no problemo...good luck to you..hopefully it isn't a total loss.

This is an extreme spring...its been so ugly around here, but at least nothing is greening up, other then the grass... 2 inches of rain here.

So far the trees look unaffected by this cold-front. I couldn't believe it when I went out this morning and the buds and leaves looked perky and happy.

I did forget to bring in my new potted blackberries so those may be a loss. They were still quite dormant but being in pots the roots no doubt froze.

Believe it or not it's only 21F here now at 1:00pm.

"DENVER (CBS4) Frigid temperatures blanketed Colorado this morning! Denver hit 7 degrees this morning, which tied the record low for the day from back in 1959.
Just before midnight, at 11:59 pm, Denver bottomed out at 9 degrees which broke the record low for April 9th from 1959. Apparently, it was quite chilly in April of 1959."

Well I won't be getting any plums this year. The peach blossoms were mostly all frozen. The PF-24C took a hard hit but surprisingly some of the Silver Logan buds still look good. It looks like my pears were just about to break bud and they are most likely toast this year, which is too bad because it would have been my first harvest from them. Even the rhubarb was frozen, but it still has a lot of leaves to push out so hopefully I will still get some this year. No cherries or apricots either, all the tender young branches look as if they were freeze-dried. I am quite worried about my NC-10 persimmon; I don't think the graft is going to make it.

It looks like this year will be a year of rest for my trees. I can concentrate on getting them pruned and trained the way I want and setting up a watering system.

I think the apples are all dormant enough not to have been harmed but itâÂÂs just a wait-and-see kind of thing. No amount of protection I could have put up would have helped with temperatures as low as 7F.

Yeah..not much you can do about that.

I wonder on a commercial scale, how bad it is? I know Colorado produces quite a few peaches (we get them here from time to time)...

That global warming :)

It got down to 21F in Palisade last night. Hopefully they were able to save the peach crops. We are really spoiled here with having great peaches.

Here is a link that might be useful: April is make or break for peach crops

Okay, I just have to vent again. The forcast says it will get down to 18F on April 17th, following lows of 22F and 25F the previous nights. Spring sure ain't sprung here yet.

Compared to the last two 'hot' springs, this spring is actually just a bit below what is should be in RI. Milehigh, my heart goes out to you about your peaches, (one of my favorite fruits). My peaches are in pink bud and looking happy. We have had a lot of rain, even in the past two days. I hope my sprays that went on over two weeks ago are holding. Its only in the 50's here in RI, and much warmer inland, (70's). I hope we've seen the last of frost this year. PS I hear ya Bamboo Rabbit! And Frank, still chilly where you are? Mrs. G

Milehigh:

No rest for the weary. My relatives in WI and Illinois are so sick of the cold, rain, snow, and clouds; just like Frank. At least we get sunshine. I've nursed my early watermelons through several frosts and saw the first blossom yesterday. We are predicted to hit 34F Friday morning.

I feel you. I ordered 6 trees from burnt ridge and just asked them to delay the shipment because they were supposed to ship Monday. First day in the ground would've been 8-12" of snow and lows in the teens :(

First day of 2013 above 60F in the Detroit area, and first day above 68 too for you Celsius sticklers. Saturday night it will go below freezing after five days of rain but help is on the way.

Fruitnut-

Its horrible..horrible... its beyond crap. I've still yet to hit 60F and only have a handful of days in the 50Fs.. Yesterday the high temp was 40F and we had snow on the ground all day...and got over an inch of rain on top of that. Today was 50F and very windy...tomorrow 49F and the rest of the week low 40Fs and lots of rain (over an inch)... Its a joke. I went a whole week without seeing the sun (today we still had some clouds, but it was sunny for awhile)... I still doubt the apricots bloom this month.

I feel your pain too. Watching out my window tonight as the snow piles up, hoping that some how just a few peach buds survive this next cold snap. I have been spraying with kelp and molasses (homemade KDL) we will see...

I was thinking I might try to organize a scion exchange here next year, but maybe a support group for lost fruit would be better ;)

Hope your trees pull through for you,

Andy

Milehigh:

Here you go again in Denver... big snowstorm yesterday I see with more on the way into tomorrow. Lows in the teens tomorrow and Thursday night will probably set more records.

I'm envious of the moisture the snow is bringing you, but glad it's staying a bit warmer here in NM.

Those in the Midwest: I still can't help but laugh reading your complaints of too much winter now compared with your opposite complaints back in December (you were complaining about it being too warm without enough snow...).

Here was December in my backyard:

{{gwi:80179}}

I had 18.3 inches of snow...but it did end up above normal (temp), although nothing warm. The climate here is a lot colder then say Milwaukee and especially Chicago. I'm even colder then Minneapolis (overnight lows there are higher/heat island) at times... This spring sucks. Clouds and 37F right now.

Frank time to move to RI. Mrs. G :)

fabaceae_native,

It was "too warm without enough snow", but now that it's spring and the trees are waking up it's the worst possible thing. We can handle the cold and snow in Dec. and Jan. but not in April.

I too am glad for some moisture because we badly need it but we needed it months ago.

MrsG-

Yeah..i'd love to live on the east coast. I've watched "This Old House" for many years, and of course they are always in the Boston/RI/CT area doing work and its always so beautiful. Plus you have mountains (we have bluffs/not the same) rivers, lakes (upstate NY) and of course the ocean to keep you mild. People say taxes our high out there, but they aren't much lower here in Wisconsin (better in MN)..

Sunshine now, but only in the low 40Fs.. . I've at least got to plant a few trees today and get outside.

Could be worse...North Dakota, N MN, N WI and of course most of western Canada is pretty rough this year..of course population is pretty sparse in most that area.

Fairbanks, AK was -21F just a few days ago!

Well MileHigh, we were -3F on April 10th (about 3000' higher than you and 30 miles NW). My trees have the advantage that they had not yet opened any buds, or even swelled buds for most. One just planted plum had buds which were a bit swollen and starting to green on the tips. Have to wait and see how they do.

Just got 18" of snow out of the storm yesterday, and expect about the same from the one tonight/tomorrow. Guess winter isn't over yet for us.

Glad I decided to pot up the blackberries which had broken dormancy instead of planting them outdoors. They would not have liked the last week or so of weather.

steve333,

Guess winter isn't over yet for us

It actually felt like we didn't have a winter at all until this week. I almost felt we had cheated and gone from fall to spring. Now it's so much worse because the trees were greening up.

I have a question about your blackberries. How do you protect them in winter? I ordered some from Bay Laurel and was disappointed that they were bare root (it says so right on their website). I potted them up and then we got our cold weather so who knows what will happen. What cultivars have you found work for you?

This post was edited by milehighgirl on Tue, Apr 16, 13 at 23:26

That is the one nice thing here, is that overnight temps have not been cold (too many clouds/rain)... I think the coldest nite looks to be Friday and then it mid 20Fs... Nothing is greening up here except the grass. Trees are just starting to show signs of waking up..i usually watch the lilac bushes, and they are just starting to show some green.

I'm trying to find a silver lining to this winter-in-spring and I've thought about the fact that there might be fewer pests and diseases. I will also get a good lesson on cold-hardiness comparisons. What concerns me the most at this point is that the bees are not going to get their honey flow. Even if we loose stone fruit blossoms we usually have an abundance of crab apples, but this year I think that is questionable.

They aren't able to forage right now since it's 30F now (the high today was 32!) So they will be running low on stored honey and won't be able to get anything new to start their hive up again. I don't have bees yet but I've got everything I need to get them going. I was going to put it off another year because of practicality, but now I think I'll put an order in for a swarm and do my best to keep them fed this summer.

Milehigh,

I wouldn't worry too much about the bees. They seem to survive OK in areas which have longer winters than CO.

The weather is causing a different problem here. So far, we haven't had a freezeout and first bloom has been normal.

However, the prolonged cool weather is leaving blooms open for a very extended period. They are not progressing, but just sitting there. So far no blossom blight from sitting open so long in damp weather, but in my backyard, the robins devouring blossoms with a fervor I've never seen.

We have an extremely heavy population of robins and I think they congregate on my property because of all the mulch (makes it easy to hunt for earthworms). Normally they will eat some peach blooms, but this year it's crazy. I'm concerned they are going to completely strip some trees. Peach trees with showy blooms are the ones they go after (about half the trees in my yard). They have already significantly cut into the production of some of these trees (many shoots are completely stripped of blooms) and since it looks like we're stuck in this weather pattern, blooms will continue to just sit there for the robins to pick them off. Once petal fall occurs, the robins will leave them alone, but we can't seem to move past bloom.

Of course it's no comparison to a complete freezeout, but just thought I'd share something that's happening here as a result of the weather.

I can tell my apricot and peaches froze hard last week when we hit 12-14f The apricot blooms turned brown overnight. It got up into the 60's last weekend and then back down to 21f tonight. Then back into the 60's this weekend and more chance of snow next week. Its crazy, I doubt I have anything left this year.

MHG-

I can't tell you about blackberries and cold yet, as I just ordered mine and they are planted in pots waiting for warmer weather to be planted outside. (arrived already leafing out)

They are a bit of a gamble. I ordered Prime-Jan, which in theory is hardy up here. I plan on planting them in a sheltered area to protect them from the winter winds. I suspect they will survive, but whether they will flower and fruit in time with my shorter season remains to be seen. Can tell you more in a couple of years.

olpea,

That is interesting about the robins. I've never seen them eat blossoms here (at least that I've noticed). Sorry for all your troubles:(

jagchaser,

Sounds like my situation. I guess it's just the same fronts passing through. Up and down in the temperature and snow and wind and ice. Ugh!

Steve,

I ordered Siskiyou, Triple Crown, and Thornless Boysenberry. I know it was a gamble but at the time I was up for it. I'm already exhausted before summer even gets here. The one bright spot is that my Chicago Everbearing Fig pulled through this winter. I had it encased in cinder blocks and covered with a tarp, snuggled up against the foundation of the house.

It got down to 19F last night, April 22nd. Previous record low as 23F in 1982. I am worried about all the trees that have arrived which are potted up because I'm planning to take them to Iowa. The peaches, Polly, Ranger, and Indian Free, look like their branches are shriveled and dry. Hopefully they can pull out of this, but my guess is they won't.

I think I've learned a good lesson: It's best to order from suppliers in your similar climate. My Bay Laurel order arrived in a horrible blizzard and I wasn't able to do anything with them for days. My Cummins order is on it's way, but the forecast into next week is looking a lot better.

I know I have "Zone Denial" but maybe I'm gonna get over it soon. Surprisingly my Chicago Hardy fig is looking fine all nestled in a cinder block hut next to my foundation. I'm thinking of designing a trellis that I can put hardware cloth over for hail protection and then it will double as a high tunnel of sorts for covering the trees in spring. I'm just worried what my neighbors will think.

It hit 16f this morning here 200 miles east of you. I think that finished off all the rest of my new growth.

Supposed to be 80 this weekend.

It's 21F in Amarillo as I type this. My buddy who lives there says his apricots started blooming March 2. It's been 20 to 27F and 78 to 87F every week since!! A horrible spring!!!

This post was edited by fruitnut on Wed, Apr 24, 13 at 8:46

Don't most nurseries ship based on your zone? Burnt ridge was great in working with me. They were going to ship April 15 but I asked them to hold it til this week and they did.

How do you plan on using the covering for hail? I feel like the hail around here comes in without any warning most of the time and would leave before you could get them covered...

Milehigh:

My buddy and I are designing a system for him to protect against spring freezes, hail, birds, and large insects like June bugs that have defoliated his trees in the past.

It will be covered with 30% black woven polypropylene during the freeze free season, April to October. It will be uncovered in winter. During spring freezes in March and April a tarp or poly will be pulled over the frame, 20ft by 42ft, with a 60,000 BTU heater for freeze control. The tarp or poly will be in place only on nights when a freeze is expected. So some hand labor is involved but we only average about 6 nights per year that would need heat for spring freeze control.

This post was edited by fruitnut on Wed, Apr 24, 13 at 9:00

Milehigh, I couldn't believe my eyes last night when I saw a Colorado (Denver) weather report. Snow and more snow. I hope your trees will make it. Bet they do! I also read an article entitled 'Crazy Weather'. . . it sure is. Mrs. G

Fruit-

One thing nice about living here is that spring is pretty kind to most fruit, allowing it to stay dormant late enough that spring frost/freezes haven't been an issue for me lately. I never get much above 50F until at least March (most years)...very warm air (70Fs+) are just not normal until April. Snow is common in the spring months and frost is usually deep.

Should hit 60F FINALLY on Friday!

It looks like another record low last night; 18F. Last record low was 24F in 1984. It is awful here because we had some really warm days in Feb. and Mar. and everything started to wake up.

My rhubarb has now frozen over at least 3 times. Fortunately my hops are situated near a concrete retaining wall and I think they have been spared some real damage. I guess I just gave up on saving anything.

Fruitnut, I was thinking of putting a trellis system that has a top on it; curved and covered with hardware cloth or something durable but not so ugly (for hail protection). In the spring I would cover it with plastic for late freezes. My rows of trees are only 7 feet apart so I think I could make a continuous cover. I don't know how I'll accomplish this as I'm pretty much on my own, but it's something I want to work toward. Part of this trellis system would supply water from a lower level. I just don't know if the hardware cloth would shade the trees too much.

Of course, if I put sides on it I wouldn't have to worry about birds or squirrels! The only think I would have to worry about are my neighbors. Denver is not a friendly place for gardeners; I will have to see what zoning would say. If I start out with just a couple of rows a year then maybe my neighbors would adjust. After all, they were all, surprisingly, gung-ho on my squirrel killing.

I know I'm a killjoy but this is getting insane. I just pulled my fig trees out of the garage and gave them a good soaking. (Suprisingly they all look to have made it.) I can now look forward to more snow and a low of 27F on Wednesday, down from a high of 79F today.

Misery love company! Just a note that even in RI this is the second coldest spring in history! Mrs. G

Through all these swings, I had actually managed to get a handful of my indian free peaches to bloom and set. This last freeze was probably the end of that :P
The thermometer recorded a low of about 18f in my yard last night. No longer worried about fruit this year, now I'm worried about my grafts.

Andy

7.5F was the low here last night. Fortunately no trees or berries had leafed out yet, but most had buds which had started swelling; so I'll see if still get flowers/fruit this year...

aph-

Do some chip budding this summer...

I've got 33F and the ground is covered in snow right now...only thing flowering is the Puget Gold apricot and that thing is worthless anyways, so no harm done yet.

I got about 3 inches of snow last evening but the temperature stay right around 31 degree. I hope the fruit flowers make it. They are prediction more snow tomorrow and the temp will drop down to 30 degree.

Tony

Late freezes are one thing, but this is ridiculous! The coldest I can remember getting during April back in Ohio is the mid teens and that was in the first week of the month.

Here we had a low in the low 20s at the beginning of April. Single digits though? That's insane...kudos to you out in CO.

How often does this happen? Meaning, where the freezes are THAT cold & frequent in spring?

hairmetal4ever,

I posted this on another post but I'll put it here too. Yesterday my 21-year-old son said, "This is the most bi-polar weather I have seen in my life." and I told him it's the most bi-polar weather I've seen in my life too. (I'm half a century now). I didn't actually measure but it looked like 6" on my car yesterday.

A few years ago we did get snow on May 1st, but never got this cold. We broke a lot of records for cold this year. So on the bright side it's a good indication of what trees are bud hardy.

Keepers: Pipestone plum, Saturn, NJ 252, and O'Henry peach (all of them still have some good buds or are blooming now). Hoyt Montrose apricot also made it through last night which went down to 22F officially. Then there's this volunteer peach that looks as if it was not affected at all; it's loaded with blooms. I will see if they are worth eating this summer.

I'm rethinking my zone denial issues but also trying to come up with a good solution so next spring I don't face this problem.

Any variety of peach or plum with open blossoms surviving 22 degrees is a keeper!

I grew up in Akron, OH. There were a couple times we got snow flurries or slushy rain/snow mix in early May (and once later in May) but typically the temps were no colder than the mid-30s, and even the nighttime lows rarely would get much colder than the upper 20s to around 32.

Of course your much drier, more continental climate means greater day/night differential as well as greater swings overall.

Just little follow-up. This salad plate full of Surefire cherries may well be my entire crop from my trees this year.