Grub + Pub

Warm spring, frost spoil area fruit crops

blog by S.J. Velasquez • June 05, 2012 @ 10:45am

Those lovely warm spring days are back to bite us—in the form of really expensive fruit.

Because warm temperatures in upstate New York coaxed some fruit crops to bloom early, a sudden frost then damaged the already-growing fruits. Effected fruits include apples, peaches, nectarines and cherries.

Syracuse’s Post-Standard spoke to farmers who said this season’s losses are larger than any in recent years, “possibly rivaling the legendary killer frosts of 1945.”

FreshPlaza.com notes that the early bloom will hinder the typical length of cherry season. Cherry season, which usually runs until about the third week in July, will probably end much early in the summer.

The frost will also have a negative impact on wine production, as grapes were damaged in the frost, the Post-Standard adds.

According to the Albany Times Union, up to 50 percent of the region’s grapes have been destroyed, approximately 90 percent of the state’s peach crop and nearly all of New York’s cherries.

Photo courtesy of Flickr / D H Wright.

TAGGED: apples, cherries, crops, farming, frost, fruits, grapes, peaches