Early tree flowering puts Midwest fruit harvest in jeopardy
To the delight of flower lovers, fruit trees have exploded with early vibrant blossoms across the Midwest.
But to fruit farmers these early blooms inspire more distress than delight. If the flowers are hit by a frost and die, the trees’ fruit crops will die with them.
“We need all the prayers we can get,” said Mick Klug, who supplies peaches, cherries, apples, pears and more to Chicago restaurants and several area farmers markets. With these fragile early blooms, “it only takes one night in the low 20s to devastate the crop. And we still have to get through the whole month of April and the first two weeks of May.”
Klug’s family grows 3,000 fruit trees in St. Joseph, Mich., just across Lake Michigan in a state that grows the majority of the tree fruit in the Midwest.
This year’s unseasonably high temperatures have coaxed hundreds of his fruit trees into full bloom more than a month ahead of schedule. And while that could mean hefty and early harvests if the weather stays warm, it could also mean disaster.
The precarious situation has fruit growers obsessively watching weather reports, and according to WGN-TV meteorologist Tom Skilling, they have good reason to be worried.
WGN Weather Center forecasts show that the Benton Harbor area in Michigan could drop to 30 degrees by Friday night, and frosts are possible for several weeks.
“We’re not out of the woods in terms of a frost threat here or in southwest Lower Michigan,” Skilling said. “The median date of the last frost dates there occurs between April 10 and April 30 — but the last observed dates for frost there extend into mid- and late May.”
Mark Longstroth, a fruit educator at the Michigan State University Extension, said half an hour at 28 degrees around bloom time will cause damage, and half an hour at 25 degrees could take 90 percent of the crop.
For Chicagoans, that would translate into sparse fruit tables at farmers markets and sad, empty pie shells everywhere. For farmers, it would mean a severe financial blow.
“We are on pins and needles most of the time,” said Rene Gelder, who owns and operates Ellis Family Farms in Benton Harbor, Mich., another major fruit supplier to Chicago restaurants and farmers markets.
“The onset of these blossoms almost three weeks ago has put us in a critical stage for weeks, and we are still there,” she said. “Every time we get near the low 30s, we are watching and looking.”
Gelder said she has never seen another spring like this. “And neither has my father, who started the farm,” she said. “And he’s 79.”
Some “old-timers” recall that the spring of 1945 saw a similarly early bloom followed by a devastating frost, Longstroth said. “Most people were wiped out,” he said, “but those who had a little fruit made a lot of money.”
Just how likely is it that local fruit farmers will escape another frost in the next six weeks?
“It would be unprecedented,” Longstroth said. “But then again, those two 80-degree weeks in March were also unprecedented.”
This year’s strange weather also has meant freakishly early and abundant local spring produce. Ramps and asparagus were snapped up last weekend at Green City Market in Lincoln Park, the Evanston Winter Market and Glenwood Sunday Market in Rogers Park.
“We have so much asparagus that we’ve asked Green City Market if we can start coming four weeks early,” Klug said. “We usually don’t get asparagus until early May, but we’ll be bringing in purple and green this Saturday.”
Gelder said she has been delivering fresh local asparagus to her restaurant customers, including Big Jones and Graham Elliot, this week and will be selling at Green City on Saturday, just in time for feasts on Easter and the second night of Passover.
Fruit with Bill & Sheila
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