North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Hilborn.E@epamail.epa.gov]

I feel your pain Deb.  Here in central NC, daytime highs have oscillated between 70s to 30s since mid November.  A period of warm weather just before Christmas encouraged many insects to become active. For 5 days, I watched bats hunting in the evenings, and heard chorus frogs calling. Then we experienced lows in the teens and cold days for a short stretch. It is warm again now (60 degrees at midnight last night), but I see no bats. I hope that animals can survive this winter.  It is not easy to slip in and out of hibernation....

Luckily, my fruit trees have not budded out, but I have certainly written off trying to grow apricots for the forseeable future.

Betsy Hilborn

Central NC