Below-freezing temperatures have farmers checking their crops
Temperatures fell well below freezing in some parts of northern Michigan from Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. That has farmers looking for signs of frost damage. Across northern Michigan they are checking the fields and orchards for signs of crop damage, after overnight temperatures dipped down into the 20's.
Rob Sirrine with the MSU Extension says, "in some areas it dropped down to about 25 degrees, which according to some of our models is about 90% kill. But it depends on where it is of course - and that's for sweet cherries and tarts. "
Jim King from King Orchards checked out his cherry trees. "The fruit is almost a black color if it's damaged, and those will dry up and fall off the tree if they are frozen." But he also checked for damage on the apple trees. "Brown petals, the frost will burn the petal itself and the parts inside the blossom will also turn brown, when that happens they're definitely frozen."
Vineyard owners are also on the lookout - although their crop is farther along. Don Coe from Black Star Farms says "we're concerned of course about cold weather this late in May, however most of our vineyards, in fact all of our vineyards have been pruned back. We've not had as much bud break as the cherry industry has had."
Jim King agrees. "We're hearing reports from around the 3-4 county areas that there are some areas with damage. And I'm sure we've had some. But the extent is really unknown."
And some crop damage doesn't necessarily mean disaster for any farmer. King says, "if we were to [pollinate] and grow each flower into an an apple that would be way too many apples for the trees anyway. We probably only want 20-30% of the bloom to pollinate and grow into an apple. "
Farmers say while they should have a better idea of the impact in the next few days... It could be harvest time before they know the full effect of the frost.
