North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Elizabeth Hilborn <ehilborn@mebtel.net>]

We had many fruits leafed out from a warm Feb and March when the freezes 
occurred. I noticed severe freeze damage to foliage of persimmons and 
kiwi. No kiwi fruit this year, all the blossoms were frozen.

Leaves of Nanking cherries, goumi, filberts, pears, Cornelian cherries, 
dog rose and apples look mostly OK. Goumi fruit is developing, I am not 
sure about the others. Keiffer pears had set fruit and they have been 
frozen and aborted. Some fireblight developing in damaged blooms. 
Rabbiteye blueberries that had set fruit were frozen, but I am hopeful 
for some yields from later blooms. Juneberries had not yet bloomed and 
have set fruit normally. Pawpaw flowers were frozen, some blooms 
continue, so there is hope for a small crop this year. Mulberries just 
leafing out and fruit looks unaffected.

Muscadines had not leafed out so were unaffected. Early growth on pecans 
was lost, some oaks may not have a crop of acorns as blossoms damaged, 
leaves somewhat scorched. Chestnut leaves were damaged, hickories and 
black walnuts emerged with the muscadines and seem to be OK.

I agree with Lucky, the Easter freeze of 2007 was worse. I did not see 
any ice flowers or exploding tree branches this spring. I did notice 
severe winter damage to trunks of kiwis and Asian persimmons though... 
They must have had significant sap flowing that froze during the cold 
nights.

Betsy Hilborn
7a, NC

On 4/28/2016 11:08 AM, V. Michael Bove, Jr. wrote:
> The seventies-then-below-zero weather we had in late winter here killed the 
> flower buds on all six varieties of our peaches.  Plums (myrobalan), 
> apricots, apples, and pears all seem to be flowering more or less normally, 
> but no idea yet about fruit set.
>
> Anyone else on the list get clobbered?  We also lost the flower buds on our 
> magnolia tree and forsythia bushes.
>
> Michael Bove
> Teakettle Farm, Z6 (MA/RI border)
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