[nafex] Another bad freeze

Steve sdw12986 at aol.com
Mon Apr 30 00:05:39 EDT 2012


It was a beautiful sunny day today so I went out. I didn't stay long 
since it was still in the 30s and the wind chill was certainly in the 
20s. My thermometer had gone down to 24 over night. Saturday night was 
going to be the cold night but that got pushed back to tonight.
After the 24 degree night, this is what I noticed: The little leaves 
that open to reveal the cluster of apple buds looked a little brown and 
burnt on their edges but the apple buds themselves looked normal to me. 
The pear flower buds are much farther along with the individual buds 
spread out but I didn't inspect them as closely as the apples.
The European plums still looked normal but all the American hybrid plums 
looked funny. Alderman plum had some buds that had elongated their stems 
and the stems were killed with the little buds hanging in the wind. I 
didn't bother to go across the yard to where the Manchurian apricots are.
That was after 24 degrees. All day the prediction for tonight was 13 
degrees, but I see they have revised that up to 16 degrees. I would love 
it if they were wrong and it got no colder than last night. Not likely. 
This will be the end of it. After tonight the forecast is for lows in 
the mid 30s, then 40's to low 50s.
I'll probably watch for a few days or more before I report back with the 
final results. On TV, the weather channel started the forecast with 
something about unusually cold temperatures tonight. Ya think???

Steve


On 4/27/2012 8:04 AM, Caren Kirk wrote:
>    Hi Steve, it's you co-complainer up here in Quebec!
>
> I too was worried in March, but as you say, everything has stayed closed
> a bit longer so that's actually a good thing.
>
> Monday we had snow, and there's been some risk of light frost this week,
> but I think we're having slightly milder weather than you.
>
> Anyway I did the tour of the trees yesterday, and my analysis was as
> follows: peach, plums, cherries and suprisingly apricot all looking
> fine. Buds are still swelling and most are loaded. Apples- some are
> staring to have their leaves start to uncurl  (my apples are young so
> maybe I won't get blossom this year anyway). Pears - blossoms are half
> open, not sure if there has been damage due to fluctuating temperatures.
>
> Luckily I am just a backyard enthusiast and my attitude with my fruit is
> "I get what I get", a little fatalistic perhaps, but I know that frost
> is just one of so many  factors that can diminish my fruit crop. The
> season is just beginning....
>
> Anyway, good luck, and keep sending us updates, it's interesting to
> compare where your trees are with mine.
>
> Caren Kirk
> St. Jerome, QC.
>
> On 4/26/2012 11:16 PM, Steve wrote:
>> I was on here back in March complaining about the weather (later in the
>> "early pruning" discussion). After more than a week of warm weather
>> including some days in the low 8os we had a prediction of 3 degrees and
>> I wondered what that might do to the awakening fruit trees. Well, it
>> actually only went down to 13 that night and the trees were just fine.
>> Last Friday, I finished up some pruning that I hadn't done yet and I
>> couldn't help but notice that nearly every tree I own is just loaded
>> with flower buds. Every plum (except one young one), all the apple
>> varieties, and the Manchurian apricots are really loaded. The pears have
>> a moderate number of flower clusters. As of last week, no flowers were
>> open but the plums were close and, of course, the apricots even closer.
>> It's been cool with snow flurries every day since then until today. That
>> doesn't worry me. In fact it's good that it's been cool to stop further
>> development of the buds. Now the forecast for Friday night is 16 degrees
>> and Saturday night the forecast is for 14 degrees. That worries me!
>> I don't have a question. This is more of a "misery loves company" sort
>> of post. I'll report back Sunday or Monday and let you know how cold it
>> actually got and how the flower buds look.
>>
>> Steve in the Adirondacks
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