Unseasonably warm weather earlier this spring may have been a bonus to many Nova Scotians, but it has turned into a curse for apple and cherry growers.
A heavy frost April 14 and 15 has taken a large bite out of a crop that was looking to be, if not a record, at least comparable to other high-volume years.
And farmers are keeping their fingers crossed that Jack Frost doesn't strike again.
"It definitely will have an impact on the crop," Bill Craig, a tree fruit specialist with AgraPoint, an agricultural consultancy group with offices in Kentville and Truro, said Wednesday in an interview.
"We had a good potential, but we don't have potential for a full crop right now.
"We won't really know the full extent of the damage until the trees bloom and fruit begin to set. It will impact some growers more than others."
Some apple growers, especially those in low-lying areas such as Grafton and Woodville, Kings County, have lost as much as 75 per cent of their apple buds to frost damage.
"The last time I've seen this much damage was back in 1986," said Craig.
The crop dropped that year to 1.8 million bushels from about 2.5 million.
He said the most damage is showing up in early variety apples, such as Gravenstein, McIntosh and Cortland, which combined represent more than 50 per cent of the entire apple crop, valued at $13 million annually at the farm gate.
Most of the later variety apples, such as Honeycrisp, Gala, Jonagold and Ambrosia, escaped much of the damage.
"Most of the later varieties are fine," said Craig. "There may be traces of damage, but not a real serious problem."
The full extent of the damage will not be known until the bloom sets, which may be in a week to 10 days, depending on the weather.
"Time will tell," Craig said.
Warm weather early in April caused the trees to begin budding about three weeks ahead of schedule. But then temperatures dropped to minus 5 C in some areas of the Annapolis Valley early on the evening of April 14 and lasted throughout the night.
"It was the duration of the cooling more than the low temperatures that caused the problem," said Craig.
"Minus 5 in the second week of April is not usually a concern because trees aren't even growing. They ran into damage because they had an early start."
Once the trees start growing, they lose their hardiness. The more they grow the less hardy they are. Frost kills the pistols and the ovaries, the reproductive part, of the delicate flower.
Most of the damage was confined to apples and sweet cherries. There was little damage in pears, plums and peaches.
Farmers usually don't feel out of frost danger until the last full moon in May.
Recent cool temperatures have slowed growth down, but the apple bloom is still ahead by about two weeks, meaning apple blossoms could be out by the middle of May.
Craig said the trees were showing a good bloom this year that could mitigate the damage to some extent, depending on the rest of the season.
"We will have to wait and see how the season shakes out," said Dela Erith, executive director of the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers' Association. "There is still chance of another frost.
"It could be very bad if the later variety apples get hit."
Last year's crop was a little larger than in recent years at 2.4 million bushels.
No comments:
Post a Comment