"Hottest" it got here today was 30F (average should be 61F). At least with the very slow spring no fruit trees are anywhere close to breaking bud or blooming, so frost danger isn't an issue right now no matter how cold it gets.

Time for another snow this week! I went outside today to check things out and my little Hoyt Montrose apricot is blooming! I thought I was going to give my Saturn peach the axe but it has blooms that made it too. This is truly amazing to me. Of my cold-hardy 4-in-1 plum only the Pipestone is blooming. The euro pears are also blooming. We aren't supposed to get below freezing tonight but we will be tomorrow. I will just cover these few plants to be sure.

I have not been really overwhelmed with my PF-24C peach. It looks like it has more frost damage to last years growth than the others. I have a volunteer peach that came up about a foot from my O'Henry that's loaded with blooms. I wish I knew what it is but I'm not going to axe it till I know.

It seems here in Colorado we never have a spring or a fall, we just have summer and winter mixed in. I do think that the one thing that's saved me anything is that we have a later "spring" than Texas has.

I would say yes fruitnut

After finally getting to normal temps for a week, we are having 2 days at 0C for a HIGH, plus 20cm of snow... yes... BLOODY SNOW!!

MG, Fruitnut,

We finally got good weather for one week in the 70's. I did a bunch of grafting over the weekends, but tomorrow the weatherman predicts some snow. All the fruits trees are blooming right now. Sigh!!!

Tony

We are to expect 5 days in the low 70's with no rain till Sunday! Yes! I'll be out in the garden all day everyday!

It's 45 and overcast, and is supposed to drop about a degree every other hour or so with rain starting at 2ish today and continuing at a 90% probability until it switches over to snow around midnight with a predicted 2-4". The Weather Channel shows a low of 33, but I think they generally home in on Omaha and I'm north of there by 25 miles.

The only thing I have blooming are my two young peach trees. I planted them in '11 and had so looked forward to seeing a peach this year!!!

I don't know if I cover them with a sheet if it'll help or not. Winds are supposed to be around 20 MPH.

Oh well, maybe my apples and cherries will be okay.

I'm afraid that if I say "no" the weather gods will notice and say "oh you think so, eh?" Then *poof* 20 inches of snow in mid May...

I've never lost fruit to snow. It's cold that does the damage. But 20 inches on fully leafed out trees could bust up the trees something awful.

It's been a tough spring in lots of places. Hopefully things will improve soon.

That's some pretty bad weather fruitnut. Milehigh's comes close, but yours wins because you should be so much milder at that elevation and latitude.

Milehigh, by the way, is the Montrose apricot always this late to flower? Do all the fruit trees you mentioned above: apricot, peach, plum, and pear flower at the same time for you every year?

This year half of my peaches are about two weeks later than usual to flower, buds just beginning to open now, when apples have already been blooming for weeks nearby...

fabaceae_native,

This is the first year my Hoyt Montrose bloomed for me. I got it last spring when it was still dormant and I allowed it to make one apricot, which is kinda weird now that I think about it because I don't know how it got pollinated (it was almost decadent how good it was, very small, but very good!). It bloomed really late last year but that's because it wasn't planted till May I think.

The rest of my trees usually bloom on a schedule with apricots and cherries being the first and apples the last.

I caught a cold and didn't feel well enough to cover the trees last night and now there is 3 inches on the ground. The snow should protect the blossoms but if it gets windy then I will have a problem.

I got my Hoyt Montrose (I believe it's different than Montrose) from Bob Purvis.

It depends on what you mean by "worse". I am sure all of you with snow would love to see it warmer, but we have had weeks now of above-average temps, at least 10 to 20 degrees above normal, yesterday breaking a record. This week we have low to mid 90's with smoke filled skies from several fires going on. Myself, I would MUCH prefer the cold to 95 degrees and smoky, especially since I am running my first half-marathon for the American Heart & Stroke Assoc. this Saturday and it is forecast for 96 degrees (yippee.)
Plus almost all my grafts just fried in the sun in April and are gone now. :(
So I think my weather is worse, since I hate sweating all the time and my grafting season is now over, but I guess the grass is always greener!!

Carla in Sac

Carla:

I was 4 years in Piedra, CA, just east of Fresno. No fruit losses to freezes, hail, wind or any other weather element. Here 9 killing freezes in one year and it's already hailed three times resulting in a puny 0.5 inch rain. In CA there was about one windy day, 30-40 mph type, per year. In west TX that's an every week sometimes every day occurrence.

So why did I leave, poor air quality was making me sick.

There are lots of things about central CA worse than west TX. Weather for growing fruit isn't one of them IME.

My 21-year-old son looked out the window today and said, "This is the most bi-polar weather I've seen in my whole life". I told him it's the most bi-polar I've seen in my whole life too:-) 3"inches and counting on the snow fall today already,

Ya, milehighgirl, my thermometer says 94F right now. 46F forecast high tomorrow and 27F Friday morning. I'm thinking my jujube with 18 inches new growth and many other things are going to be toast.

milehighgirl..... I really like the phrase "bi-polar weather"

Seem like fruitnut has that in spades.

Coldest temp ever in Denver in the month of May is 19F....right now its 26F... heading for around 20F...

Dropped to 24F last night in Alpine TX, 21F in nearby Marfa. I covered what I could. Six hours of effort in 30mph winds. I'm expecting major losses on uncovered fruits and nuts and probably some damage even on covered grapes. I'll post pictures when I get some idea what happened.

Fruitnut,

Temp dipped to 29F last night. I saw frost on the grass and rooftop as I drove to work this morning. I Will assess the frost damage this evening. Just can't win:(!!!!

Tony

Fruitnut-

You might get the award for the crappiest spot to grow fruit!

I dropped to 32F ...we had ice this morning...and there is a little snow on the ground...temp should hit 40F today...warm up incoming for next week with temps 70F or so the whole week...

My fruit obsession is out of control. $200 and a days labor got me this. But couldn't give up after beating all the other freezes. May have saved the grapes with two layers cardboard, tarps and six 100 watt shop lights inside. The shade cloth overhead of grapes is for hail. Three hails in last month totaled 0.5 inch rain.

{{gwi:87354}}

More covered watermelon, apricot, apple, and jujube.

{{gwi:87355}}

Sweetcorn 15 inches tall. It's under that white shelter. Onions to the right have blackened tops. It also froze the chard leaves that produced all winter. But the onions and chard are no longer hardened off so they froze far worse that in mid winter

{{gwi:87356}}

Apricots in greenhouse. Harvested first one two days before 24F outside.

{{gwi:87357}}

This post was edited by fruitnut on Fri, May 3, 13 at 12:50

Let's face it, Fruitnut. There is no place in the US with weather worse than Amerillo.

But this is the first time I have seen snow in May in the Ozarks in the 23 years I have lived here. Milehighgirl is right, definately bi-polar weather.

Fruit,

Did you have anyone help you to set up that operation. That was a big task. I hope everything survive.

Tony

Tony:

Did it myself. Finished at 10:30 last night. I think everything well protected made it but I haven't looked at the grapes. They say 31F tonight so shelter is still up.

Right now the pecans look worst, probably 95% crop loss. Jujubes don't look as bad but I think all the new growth is dead. I think I may have lost some jujube grafts. A friends uncovered persimmon is wilted and black. Catalpa, mulberries, and redbuds are black.

Our weather is similar to yours, though the extremes are not so wide. Days are mid-70s, and nights are low-mid 30s. It's frustrating because the days would be beautiful for tomato growing if the nights wouldn't freeze them to death.

The humidity has also been very low during the day (18-19%), which is bad news for all the bareroot blueberries I just put in. Keeping them alive has been a big chore.

My new dwarf Saturn peach is just coming to leaf out. I don't quite know how it's managing with the cold nights.

I lived in Houston for about 9 years, and travelled all around the state. I liked Austin and San Antonio, but wouldn't live in the state again. I prefer summers in New England.

This post was edited by galiana on Fri, May 3, 13 at 13:39

fruitnut,

I concede. You have such a beautiful operation. It's hard to imagine what you're going through with such enormous losses. It's quite obvious that you have poured your heart, soul, blood, sweat and now tears out (not to mention $$$$$). Wish I were closer, I'd come give you a hand.

The temperature on my thermometer here in central Iowa has been 33 F all day -- 36 degrees below average. It's been snowing off and on for two days, and hasn't stopped yet today. This is the most snow we have gotten in May since 1907. A few more degrees colder and I will lose all my fruit trees for the second year in a row.

I would say my weather is about the same here in SW NE. The only difference is about 5 degrees lower on our highs and 5 degrees lower on our lows. We have had plenty of 80's and a touch of 90. Yesterday morning I drove thru 3 inches of snow, and sunday we had 85f. Last night it dipped to 24f and today I was working in a tshirt outside. Freeze warning again tonight, but only 29f.

Wind is about the same. Im too scared of the wind to invest in a greenhouse. Most greenhouses here dont survive the wind unless they are in a protected location. They dont call it the high plains for no reason.

Apricots were blooming back on the 9th of April I think it was when it hit 12f. Peaches and pluots were blooming yesterday and we dipped to 24 last night. Cherries are showing first white and apples are not blooming yet, they might stand a chance??

Look on the good side fruitnut, if it was too nice here in the middle then we would be swamped with people! lol

jagchaser,

I will agree that Nebraska has some pretty nasty weather. I have never been so hot or so cold in all my life as when I traveled through Nebraska. To tell the truth whenever I travel to Iowa or back I'm always glad to put Nebraska behind me. Wind, tornadoes, floods, heat, cold, humidity. (Did I miss anything?)

milehigh:

You missed hail. The high plains is the hail capitol of the US. The highest frequency is near western NE. But the bad area runs from western Texas up through eastern Wyoming. Some areas hit as high as an average of 9 hails per year in any one spot. By eastern NE the average is down to 1-2. In Illinois where I grew up we never had a hail loss in 25 years of buying crop hail insurance.

jagchaser:

I'll give the title to anyone north of me along the front range of the Rockies and high plains. You are colder and have all the extremes. People weather is better down here. The whole area is rough for fruit.

A greenhouse will solve the fruit weather issues and survive in any of that area it just has to be built like mine or stronger. Mine has 12,000 lbs concrete on each side to hold her in place. Building a greenhouse is the best money I ever spent. Cost less than a new car, less expensive to operate, and will last 2-3 times longer. And I'm growing the best fruit in the greenhouse I've ever tasted including 4 years in CA. Also have less pest issues than anywhere else I know of.

This post was edited by fruitnut on Sat, May 4, 13 at 8:58

Fruitnut,

Wouldn't your hail "shade" cloth also help protect the grapes....sort of the way trees do by trapping a bit of heat in?

bamboo:

Not the black stuff pictured above. But there is some called aluminet, aluminized poly. It would help a little by reflecting some radiant energy back down.

Fruitnut,

Thanks for the tip on Aluminet. It seems that they have exactly the design that I was thinking of. If I were able to cover my trees with anti-hail covering and also frost protection I would be a happy camper. This would provide me with a greenhouse basically. My main issue would be rain and snowfall and allowing proper run off. I have a tiny yard, probably the size of your greenhouse. I would need it to be a temporary structure (tent) so I would not have to get a zoning permit.

Here is a link that might be useful: Anti-Hail Structure

The hail structure you linked is very similar to what I successfully used in Amarillo for many years. In fact the netting over my grapes pictured above is the same piece that was part of that structure in the 1980s, ya it lasts that long part time use. Look at that picture above and think of 3 rows side by side, that's what I had.

The aluminet isn't nearly as tough as the black woven polypropylene. The aluminet only lasted about 4 years on my greenhouse. Polypropylene is 1/3 the cost and lasts 3-5 times longer. Neither should be left up during snow season.

To protect from frost pull a tarp or greenhouse poly over the same wires holding up the hail netting and put a heater inside. So it would be covered only on frost nights. My buddy, if he gets it set up, will use the old poly covering off my greenhouse.

My buddy is thinking of a high tunnel frame. Covered in hail netting during frost free season, open in winter, and covered at night during spring freezes as needed. The ends and sides covered in polycarbonate partly to make it easier to cover on frost nights. This would be for hail, frost, bird, and June bug/stink bug control/exclusion.

This post was edited by fruitnut on Sun, May 5, 13 at 0:19

I live in the very southern edge of the Hudson Valley, NY and this year we've been blessed, so far, with the perfect spring. A gradual warming with one flawless blue sky day after another.

Last year we got May in March and April in April which works as well as clay over sand. After last seasons long string of depressing events I am reborn and once again completely in love with my fruit tree obsession as my property is a panorama of fragrant and beautiful blossoms untainted by hard frost. The overall blossom set is the best I've ever seen. With all the good growing days the only cursed part is all the thinning that may be necessary.

Of course, I usually am optimistic in May- another 3 weeks without rain and despair may reign.

Fruitnut, I am very impressed with your set-ups. You are a talented man with two very green hands.

Harvestman:

Thanks for the kind words. Like you I'm happy with the start to another crop of natures bounty. We've had some losses but even those should prove interesting. The Jujube look like someone hit them with a steam cleaner.

This is what the jujube(pictured), pecan, mulberry, persimmon, and grapes look like after 24F when growing rapidly in spring. There was some foliage and shoot damage on rapidly growing apricot. Sweet cherry, apple, and pear foliage and shoots were unfazed.

{{gwi:87358}}

24F? ouch.

Good gravy Fruitnut! What a huge space and tons of work. You must have help. Gnomes? Elves? Also are those leeks growing? I left mine in this past winter and they are finally huge!!!! I'd give anything for apricots like yours. Bad temps. but great fruit! You are an inspiration. Mrs. G

fruitnut,

I've been thinking a lot about hail. Eastern Colorado got hit with golfball sized hail yesterday. Do you know what size hail the cloth you mentioned above will handle?

Milehigh:

The woven black polypropylene will handle the biggest hail. It is very very strong. The limiting factor will be whether or not it's tight enough and sloped enough that the hail will build up or bounce off. If pretty tight and sloped about 45 degrees nothing will rip it. So it's all about the design and strength of the installation not the material.

It's also tough enough that it can be strung over a single wire in the grapes above and not wear through the material.

I have a 20ft by 30ft piece flat over my watermelon patch. It's held about 9ft high by metal poles and wires. The hail builds up on that. Had about 5 gallons built up over each 6x8ft section this spring and a lot more than that a couple years ago with no damage.

Fruitnut,

Is this what you use or can you tell me where to get it. This particular one blocks out 47% sun. This may be a benefit in Colorado, but is that too much shade?

Also, will this act to prevent pests such as codling moth?

Here is a link that might be useful: Woven Shade Cloth, 47% Black

That's exactly what I have including the sown webbing and grommets except mine is 30% shade. The 30% really isn't much shade. It's hardly noticeable when underneath. I think either would work for most fruit crops. I'd definitely go 47% for berries, maybe apples but probably not pears that like more heat.

Either one will exclude larger insects like stickbugs and would probably help on codling moth if well sealed.

There is another very similar that has the weave heat set in place. It might do better on excluding insects especially after a few years. Mine does have some holes and areas where insects might get through after 30 years use.

I don't know if the heat set polypro would be as durable but would consider it if buying more.

PS: The fabric does need protection at points of unusual pressure. So like on the poles supporting my melon screen I've tied cloth around the pole top. Between poles is one wire. No wear on the wire but the pole sticking up an inch or two higher needs the edges softened. I'll post a picture of that if needed.

Here is a link that might be useful: heat set polypro shade cloth

This post was edited by fruitnut on Wed, May 29, 13 at 12:08

I see that the PAK's 40% is the cheapest and would probably be my first choice. But haven't looked into buying any.

Here in Gods Country (MN) spring was wet and summer was 15 degrees above average and rain totals are down at least 4in and not getting any better except for way up North. My grapes have finally started to turn only about a month later than usual.

I think it was a hotter summer in MN than Texas and might be the hottest summer ever.

MN is actually dryer than TX in a normal year. (According to NOAA). The Midwest is extremely unique.
But the region is kinda large. MI is also in the Midwest and we had a very cool summer. We had summer for one weekend, otherwise it was cold. We had about 3 days above 90 degrees. We usually have 20-30.
We here are all kinda in shock it's almost over and we have yet to see a summer...

Drew:

MN isn't drier than TX. There's more to being a dry environment than precipitation. Yes both states average roughly 30 inches ppt. But evaporation in TX will be twice that in MN. And Texas varies from roughly 5 to 60 inches annual. MN more like 18-36 inches.

In 2011 there was a station in Austin TX with 0.0 inches rainfall compared to an average of 30 inches. That's never going to happen in the Midwest.

The area I live in is part of the Chihuahuan desert. The desert in MN or MI is????

Here is a link that might be useful: map Chihuahuan desert

Precipitation map USA shows both TX and MN are states that vary widely in ppt. But TX much more so than MN. MI by comparison is nearly equal in all areas.

Here is a link that might be useful: ppt in USA

DH came home about 3 weeks ago (less than 2 weeks before school started, and the day I was talking to my uncle about leveling a spot for my high tunnel) and said he had a job offer NW of Amarillo. He was trying to persuade me and the kids that the weather was better there! Excuse me, I've been there, they may not get 2ft of snow in on storm like was have here (a couple of times the past couple years), they may not get 5" of rain in one day (like we've had here a couple of times this summer), but you can't tell me the weather is better!

He's almost got DD convinced, but I told her this AM that it DOES snow there, they have tornadoes, and she'd be moving away from her friends and her grandparents. DS flat out refused to move while he was still in high school, though he's thinking of going to college in TX (not Amarillo though).

ajsmama:

It depends on what you want from your weather. The worst part of Amarillo weather to me was the wind because it was constant and I worked outdoors. But freezes and hail were a close second and the fruit killer. Down here in Alpine the weather is better in all respects. It's great people weather most of the time if you like sunny and dry conditions. The wind is much less and only bad some days in winter. This is great weather for a greenhouse.

You could grow things NW of Amarillo but I'd suggest a very strong high tunnel or greenhouse.

The key is "west" Texas.
Comparing anywhere in MN to west Texas is like comparing cherries to....well CACTUS! lol

Kind of the same as comparing Duluth to Moorehead or Beaumont to Amarillo

Even though my weather here in SW Nebraska is real close to El Paso weather this year its still not as bad here because normally its not this dry or hot. Winds may be about the same though. 109F 105F 103F the past 3 days with 30 mph winds