East, Midwest Braces For Cold Snap
April 24, 2015 With a cold front moving into the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, growers are keeping an eye on temperatures. Pennsylvania is under a freeze watch advisory and the New Jersey Department of Agriculture commissioner Bob Martin approved the use of smudge pots on April 24 and April 25 due to the extreme cold forecasted for that area.
Meanwhile, in Michigan Steve Tennes of The Country Mill in Charlotte, MI, tells WLNS in Lansing, MI, each degree impacts fruit trees differently.
“Twenty seven degrees Fahrenheit tonight will give us about 10% damage,” Tennes said. “And every degree Fahrenheit below that is about 14% damage down to [about] 21 degrees, where you pretty much lose most of your crop.”
Tennes uses a wind machine to help protect his crop.
Whether or not trees will suffer blossom mortality is determined by site location, bud development at time of the freeze event, lowest temperature observed, duration of the low temperature, cultivar, cropping history, and tree health, says Tom Kon of Penn State University.
“At the Penn State Fruit Research and Extension Center in Biglerville, the majority of our apple trees are at first pink, with some early varieties (Pink Lady) that have a few open king blossoms,” writes Kon. “Many of our peach and cherry trees are at 80% to 100% full bloom.”
Kon says if a frost event results in injury, growers should apply 1 to 2 pints per acre of Promalin (Valent BioSciences) or Perlan (Fine Agrochemicals) within 24 hours of the frost event.
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