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gregkdc

Second hard freeze this season :(

Greg
9 years ago

This post has no point to it other than to vent to people who understand. WE just had our second hard freeze last night down to 26.1 F. About a weak ago We had the first one of 26.4 that wiped out my peach and nectarine blossoms it also severely thinned my pluots. I thought that sucks but maybe I will at least get some apples. Now my apples blossoms that were in full bloom last night got hit with 26.1. I don't think I will get any fruit this year except maybe a few berries. Last what really ticks me off is this is the second year in a row!
Oh well at least I wont have to spray.

Comments (14)

  • charina
    9 years ago

    It didn't get quite as cold up here in Bountiful but it was close. It was 29.5 at the weather station just up the bench from my house. Sure glad I listened to the weather and brought in the tomatoes and watermelon starts in last night. Of course the spitting lake effect snow at 6 p.m. was a good indicator it was going to be an awfully cool night. That stinks you are losing fruit.

  • StaceyBittick
    9 years ago

    We weren't near that cold, around 31 last night. Just cold enough for the fruit company I work for to turn on their fans. We had a warm streak for a couple weeks, just enough to get through pretty much everything. There are a few apples still blooming...just the real late harvesting ones. Maybe you'll get lucky...hope you do anyway!

  • alan haigh
    9 years ago

    Your apples may surprise you and still have some crop. I think of 24 as more the point of no return at bloom and after.

  • wolfridgeil
    9 years ago

    I am in a rural area west of Chicago suburbs. It got down to about 20F on Apr 15. Apples were at silver tip (except UltraMac at green tip), sweet and tart cherries at green tip, peach at silver tip (though many whole peach branches appear cold damaged from harsh winter). At this point on Apr 29, I have apple tight clusters only on Ultramac and Braestar, and only leaves on Lodi, Jonafree, Goldrush, sweet and tart cherries, and peaches. I'm thinking the winter had more to do with it than the 20F on Apr15 (though according to this chart, the cherries suffer 90% damage rate at temps below 24F). See http://msue.anr.msu.edu/uploads/files/PictureTableofFruitFreezeDamageThresholds.pdf

  • 2010champsbcs
    9 years ago

    Greg. Pulling for you. You may not have a total loss this year. I know we are in different zones but our temps dropped to 26 for 4 hours during the time my Orient pear was in full bloom. Remarkably I now have a decent 1/2-1" crop of pears. One of the things that I'm observing other than disease resistance is how each variety of apple/pear/blueberry handles the colder temps. Good luck, things will work out in the long haul. Bill

  • wolfridgeil
    9 years ago

    By the way for those that are interested, my two peach varieties are Intrepid and Reliance. I note that there were four days in Jan with lows ranging from -12F to -19F, including one 24 hr period that averaged -13F. I'm guessing that at least 1/3-1/2 of the wood is dead on each of these trees.

  • Greg
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I think the apples will still produce for me this year. It looks like they had around 50% bud death with the freeze. As for the kiwis they are toast and lost about 70% of their leaves. They had the same problem last year and grew back fine.

    Wolf;
    It is funny that the same winter temps in different parts of the country have different effect on trees. We get down to -15 every several years and I have never heard of it doing any damage to peach trees. Maybe they are dryer out here, also we don't get the wind in the winter that you guys in the midwest do.

  • Greg
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I should change the title of this thread to the 4th hard freeze of the season.
    I jumped the gun with planting my new wabash pawpaw. Last week the low temp went down to 27 for two nights in a row and now its leaves are fried. My other in ground pawpaw had been coming out of dormancy for while so I thought it was safe. The in ground plant sustained some damage but still has green living leaves. Does anybody know if the wabash will regrow new leaves or is it done for?
    It was cold enough that my grapes had about a 25% die back on leaves/flower buds and the kiwis got their second crop of leaves this season burnt off again. I have never seen this before.

  • Tony
    9 years ago

    Greg,

    We had frost here last night and the temp was around 32F. I have not had the chance to check the orchard yet. Maybe this evening after work.

    Tony

  • spartan-apple
    9 years ago

    wolfridgeil:

    I have 2 reliance peach trees. One is so damaged by
    winter injury I will cut it down. The other has no flowers this
    year but at least leafing out enough to keep.

    I sprayed for apple scab the other night. Despite thinning
    my trees heavily last June, I find my McIntosh has a good
    amount of flowers in pink bud. The rest is a nightmare.
    Red delicious.....5 flower clusters seen
    Haralson.............2 flower clusters seen
    unknown golden apple...zero flower clusters

    My tart cherries and prune plum are fine but the apples are
    next to nothing for this year.

    My pears are showing flower
    color but the number of flowers is way down from last year.
    Strange but the bottom 1/3 of both my Bartlett and Summercrisp leafed out with flowers and the top 2/3 of each is very slowly leafing out and with no flowers in those
    sections of the canopy.

    Slim pickings on fruit for me this year. Worse than 2012?

  • ltilton
    9 years ago

    No frost here, but we've got snow now.

  • bencjedi
    9 years ago

    Same dang thing has happened in Central Kentucky (zone 6b). The April 28th one obliterated my 7yo Fuji blooms (this thing has been a HUGE disappointment.. I think I had two apples last year and one the year before.. it sucks!) and struck down most of the blooms on the equally-aged Mcintosh. I counted 40 McIntosh fruits on this 25ft semi-dwarf and it probably had a thousand right when we dropped to 26. I put sheets on a few limbs and that's where most of the 40 fruits that made it are growing. The tree is too big to cover everything. I also see some small fruits dropping, so who knows what will be left at harvest time.

    I have two dwarf Goldrush I planted last year. These bloomed after that April freeze and guess what... like 50 apples on one of them and a dozen on the other one and these take up such small real estate! I feel like the Fuji and Mc better be worth it next year or I think they are getting the axe and I am going with purely dwarf versions.

    My grapes seem diminished by the polar vortexes. I didn't even prune them. They have some die back and are just starting to really start. I don't think I will have a big harvest of these either.

    My 7yo Montmorency cherry semi-dwarf is yielding MUCH less than normal but maybe I went too excessive pruning it. I might have enough fruit for one pie.

    Blueberries are producing CRAZILY. And Raspberries the same. I guess it will be a small berry year.

    I don't understand the cold last night and tonight that is supposed to happen. I pray it stays above freezing (as forecast). This year has been ridiculous with the weather!

  • Greg
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I looked at my newly planted Wabash pawpaw yesterday and realized that the frost killed every single leaf. All of the leaves were crunchy, dark, wilted and fell off with almost no pressure. The new growth that the leaves attached to also sustained some damage on the ends but the stem and thicker wood is still green. I found one terminal bud that felt soft while the rest of them were hard and brittle.The poor tree is completely bare and I don't know if it will come out of this or not. Has anybody ever had a pawpaw come back after loosing of all of its leaves or shouId I buy another one?

  • Greg
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I just wanted to update this thread with some good news. My Wabash pawpaw that lost all of its leaves to frost damage is making a recovery!