Fruit growers fear frost forecast
Fruit growers throughout the Rochester region are worried about a frost expected late Monday and early Tuesday.
“We won’t be able to sleep,” said Stephanie Craft, who runs G and S Orchards with her husband, Gary, in Walworth, Wayne County.
The Crafts didn’t expect to get much sleep Sunday night, when a low of 32 was forecast. And their vigil will continue Monday night, when the low dips even further, to about 23.
“If it’s only 25 with a breeze, then we’ll be OK, but if it goes below that, then most fruit can’t tolerate below 25,” Stephanie Craft said.
Much warmer than usual temperatures during the past several weeks have triggered budding on many fruit plants as much as four weeks ahead of schedule, making them especially susceptible to frost.
“Everybody’s worried in the apple industry,” said Gary Wells, who own Maple Ridge Fruit Farm and the Apple Shed farm market in Arcadia, Wayne County.
“It’s not only the apples, it’s peaches and grapes and cherries and strawberries and raspberries and blueberries and you name it. Everything is early,” said Wells, who has about 100 acres of fruit.
Jim Ochterski, agriculture economic development specialist for Ontario County Cooperative Extension, said the wine grape crop is in danger.
“Our grapes have already started to bud, and the risk that’s posed here is that the buds will be heavily frosted and damaged and that could really stunt their growth and reduce the grape yield throughout 2012,” Ochterski said.
The Crafts will run a huge fan to pull warmer air from a pond on their property and push it up a hill to protect 120 acres of fruit, including apple trees, strawberries, blueberries, sweet cherries, pears, and raspberries.
But fans and other techniques often used to moderate the effects of frost will have limited impact because the cold temps are expected to be accompanied by their own chilly winds of about 10 miles per hour, Ochterski said.
He said the location of vineyards will be a key factor in how grape vines fare.
“Growers closer to a big body of water are probably going to have less damage than a grower whose vineyards are away from the water, and particularly those in valleys where colder air is more likely to pool,” Ochterski said.
Experts said damage to plants will depend on the stage of budding and the exact low temperature. To protect plants, cover them with newspaper, straw or blankets. Frost will go right through plastic, said Dennis Keady, general manager of The Garden Factory, on Buffalo Road, in Gates.
The store saw a rush of customers on Saturday. Bulb plants and primrose, pansies and violas might lose some flowers but will probably be OK if it gets cold, Keady said. He recommends waiting to put in vegetable plants.
Fruit with Bill & Sheila
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