----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2007 7:40
AM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Damage
The problem throughout the eastern US
is that we had the severe record breaking freeze following weeks of
recordbreaking high temps. We had lightning bugs going for 2 weeks,
think about what time of year that should be. The following have
lost their crops for this year:
Apples
all stone fruits, including wild
cherries
pears
mulberries
oaks (except for black oaks that bloomed last
year, but now won't crop next year)
blueberries
probably dogwoods
persimmons
chestnuts
grapes, tame and wild
most hickories
black walnuts
probably sour gums
The only trees I have seen that may go ahead and
crop now are a few of the pignuts that hadn't budded out. It looks like
neither humans, birds, nor mammals are going to eat well this summer and
fall. Humans can import food from other countries, wildlife
cannot. The birds are going to suffer when they need dogwood and sourgum
berries for calories when they migrate in the fall. Deer, turkeys, and
squirrels (not to mention chipmunks and other small varmints) need them to get
through the winter. I assume the quota for the fall deer hunt will be
high this winter, as they will need severe thinning, but they will be very
skinny deer by Thanksgiving when the season opens.
Now that Easter Sunday is over
and the browning is more visible, we'll start hearing actual assessments of
the damage in percentages of crops lost and in dollars. Already there is
talk of the wheat crop being damaged, and Lucky says that corn was 6" high in
his area. (He's further north, but lower in elevation than we are)
I had covered my strawberries, they should be fine, and the blackberries and
black raspberries are fine. We had some peices of plastic from a
commercial greenhouse and covered my 10 large rabbiteyes, which were mostly
done blooming. I am hoping that some few will turn out
ok, but between the wind and the 19 degrees, it may be so few that we'll
just let the birds have them. As for Hector's acre or so of humongous
and extremely productive rabbiteye bushes, I was hoping that he at least would
keep Putnam county in some kind of fruit this year. When the frosty
winds blow, his always come through, but this was much worse than usual.
11 degrees sounds like way too cold for the crop to have survived.
As for Jim Fruth's comments,
Jim, we too have wise plants with long chilling hour requirements. Alas,
between January where we could sit around in short sleeves and shorts outside
in the evenings, and March where we were sweating in the heat, this was an
ambush. As for Richard Moyer's comments about welcoming this as a test
to remove the pantywaist plants that can't make it in Tennessee, does he plan
to remove everything except cedars, pines, and blackberries? Sorry
Richard, but this was not your normal late spring freeze. This was a
disaster for all life for the entire southeastern US. I've been thinking
about it. Hailstorns only devastate small areas. Even hurricanes
only cut a swath a mile or so wide. Earthquakes tend not to disrupt
plants all that much. And alas, if the 22 year drought cycle holds, the
bad weather is only beginning... Donna
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