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Kiss the apples goodbye

Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2021 10:08 pm
by ryanbp01
Well, my apple and cherry trees are in full bloom along with the blueberries. Everything is supposed to be covered by the morning with 2-4 inches of snow along with a a freeze warning thru Thursday morning.
BPR

Re: Kiss the apples goodbye

Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2021 10:12 pm
by garys
I don't know about blueberries, but apples can handle a lot of cold without damage when they are in bloom. Up in this end of the world, we almost always get a lot of freezing nights during and after the apples bloom, and they still produce fruit. Unless the temps drop into the low 20s or teens, you likely will still get apples.
And, the snow actually insulates the blossoms from damage.

Re: Kiss the apples goodbye

Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2021 8:57 am
by Ed in Tampa
I agree with Garys. Apple trees usually survive light spring freezes very well as do cherry trees. The blueberries should be uneffected also. Now if you get a hard freeze things could change, with sap running up the trees I have seen the trees get frost damage. I have seen bad late freezes seriously injure trees. If you have a hard freeze check your trees after they warm up check for splitting bark and sap leaks.

Re: Kiss the apples goodbye

Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2021 10:37 am
by ryanbp01
4.5 inches of wet snow fell overnight. We have a hard freeze warning issued from last night thru tomorrow morning. About the only thing left undamaged are the grapevine.
BPR

Re: Kiss the apples goodbye

Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2021 11:22 am
by garys
"Hard freeze" is a vague term. What kind of temperatures are you expecting? The thermometer doesn't lie, forecasters do.

Three years ago we got a late snowstorm in late May. The temperature dropped below 32 degrees for 36 hours straight and as low as 22 degrees during 2 nights of that 36 hours. The apple trees here still produced a large crop of fruit.

Re: Kiss the apples goodbye

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:57 am
by garys
If the weather service numbers are accurate, it looks like you didn't get cold enough in the last few days to damage apples.
https://w1.weather.gov/data/obhistory/KVNW.html