if my experience is typical (central MN) then MN and WI should still be OK.

Dang that suck:-(

IS it because of the early Spring and bloom? Then a bad frost? If we didnt have such an early Spring would this have been avoided? Or was the frost too late in the year to even matter?

This reminds me. I wish there was a weather section on the forum. Any moderators around?

Glory-

That is exactly the reason. That warmth in March (records everywhere east of the Rockies it seems) caused an unheard of 4-6 weeks before average bloom on most trees. When the cold returned (aimed squarely at Michigan and points east), the damaged occurred.

Around Wisconsin, Minnesota for the most part we got lucky, with only a couple of nights with frost and one or 2 hard freezes (depending on where you are). I think some of areas of the state had it a little worse. For the most part I would assume Wisconsin and Minnesota have a full crop of apples.

I honestly can't tell yet on a lot of my stuff. Some things are clearly killed, a few are clearly developing (pears, a few sour cherries). A lot is just kind of sitting there not doing much, but overall it's been cool. I guess time will tell.

central mn - my plum blossoms all got frosted but apples and cherries seem fine (for now, anyway).

Short answer yes, long answer no.
Most of the apple production in the world comes from China, not the US. Local produce markets will feel the hit big time, but big national chains probably won't even see a hiccup.

Don't they process most of it, though?

Yeah, something else China can take away from us. At what cost? The Chinese are notorious for using all kinds of chemicals that are banned here. Look at all of the toxic products that have come out of China -- dog food, baby formula are two recent examples.

No, no, no. Just wrong.

Some Washington State growers have been letting their fruit drop on the ground the past couple of years due to market conditions. Perhaps this year they will be able to use them all.

I have a friend who has run his family's orchard his whole life, and says he has to compete with Apples from Africa. My apple crop this year is going to be a bumper crop, thank God unless we have a freaky freeze now and I have seen it freeze clean into June once. All the more reason our food crops should not be centralised by a few major companies. I remember the rains knocking out the pumpkin crop two years ago, because almost all of it was produced by one company in their fields in one state.

Nothing is a sure thing until harvest time, a good hail can wipe it out for me. I guess now in Canada we have to count on the fruits from British Columbia....cant' wait for the Cherries and Peaches! Better growing condition then Ontario.

Only buy American Produce (Middle and south are included too)...hehehe

George Soros is planning on flooding the American market with cheap produce and grain. He is buying up farmland in Africa by the square mile.

Thus throwing the Africans into the streets of unemployment.

You can often tell on the label where the product has come from. Brands like "Simply Apple" juice get their fruit from Canada.

I put little trust in stuff coming from south of the border, so am looking into a high efficiency freezer.

Back to the original topic, I'm in southern Wisconsin. After the warm early spring, I got down into the 26-28 degree range quite a few times. My findings:

Pears: 100% crop failure.
Apples: Depending on the tree, 0%-50% crop failure.
Peaches: Not sure yet. I only have one tree. There are a few fruits that may develop.
Strawberries: I have a lot of blossoms. 25% or so have a black center. Does that mean that it won't fruit?
Blackberries, grapes, currants, gooseberries: Not sure yet.

Yes, the black centers on the strawberry blossoms mean no berries. I lost about 10% of mine, I'd say.

Out today bagging my Galas, most of which seem to have frost rings. But they're apples, so I'm not complaining.

Pears appear to have cracks radiating from the blossom end. Dunno what to make of that.

The update for the fruit crop in the state of Michigan came out this morning from Michigan State University... If you have a little time, skim through it...lots and lots of damage...sounds like areas of the state further south may have at least something to pick.

MSU fruit update

Thanks for posting the link to MSU. But, reading it made me sad.

Still too early to tell for me this year. I'm sure I'll end up with something... well, there's always rhubarb.

Wow! I'm not out of the woods yet, but, I do have a few Italian Plums that probably will not set, as it is the first year that the tree has bloomedf. I do and will have sour cherries and I have over 20 good sized apricots on my tree. My currants and strawberries are in full force. Time to net the strawberries. Don't know about apples yet. What a year. Mrs. G

Apples already $1.50 each or more at Kroger for the large ones. They are getting $3.49 a pound for Honeycrisp. But thsese were the prices before any freeze. The only thing worse are the fish prices!

Frank the MSU report is mind-boggling. I knew it was bad,I didn't know it was that bad. Time to sell my fruit! Mrs. G

Um, yeah, I walked around last night. EVERYTHING is gone. Even the pears and apples I thought looked ok. Touch them, and they now just fall off like brown needles from an old Christmas tree. Tissue in the center, the ovaries, is brown and dead.

Now, I think I'm literally not going to get ANY fruit. But, I would be surprised if, out of the thousands and thousands and thousands of blooms on a full sized apple tree, that a few couldn't make it. Time will tell.

Yikes! Sorry to hear that Denninmi. THat must have given you a sick feeling.

I just read that report from MSU liked above. Not a lot of good news there either.

Well, you know, it just goes with the territory. So, if there isn't anything this year, that means its a good year to prune, do maintenance, etc. Not that spraying and harvesting take all that much time, but an hour is an hour, it can be used for something else.