The berry blues: Late frost hurts strawberry crops
Rain and frost cost some Pennsylvania growers up to 80 percent of their berries, one grower says.
By TRAVIS REED
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- It didn't seem much like the middle of May when Cheryl Haus looked at her strawberry fields last month and saw rows of white blankets instead of green plants.
The Haus Orchard and Cider Mill was able to save about an acre of strawberries by covering them during four nights of late frost around the middle of May. Haus estimated they lost about 30 percent of their crop.
"That's not too bad, considering everything," Haus said. "The ones we covered didn't do too bad."
The unseasonable freeze cost many area farms the first, or king, bloom. Depending on whom you ask, the strawberries should taste the same, but won't fatten and bulge near the stems. Haus said it's hurt business a little, because many customers like the larger strawberries.
But it's fine with Paul Gasper, who farms about twice as many acres of strawberries as the Hauses. He said his Gasper's Gardens strawberries lost the first bloom, but otherwise, he's having a bumper year. Raising smaller berries is all right with Gasper because he said they taste better.
"Everyone thinks bigger is better, but it isn't," Gasper said. "They're just swollen up with water. There's the same distribution of sugar and everything else, so the smaller ones will taste better."
Upcoming harvest
The frost has effectively shortened the season for local strawberries. Haus said there's about another week left for them on her farm.
After that, the Haus farm's weather-stunted smaller ones will be collected and pressed into juice, which can be used for wine. Gasper said on his farm, about 50 percent of the crop will rot in the fields because of overabundance.
Haus said she has heard of farmers in areas of Pennsylvania who lost up to 80 percent of their crop, from slugs and disease encouraged by rain and the late frost.
Ted Gastier, an agriculture extension agent at The Ohio State University Extension, said it was "pretty unusual" to have so many nights of frost in a row that time of year.
Usually, he said, larger commercial growers such as Gasper use irrigation. The idea is to spray and pre-freeze the plant to protect it from colder temperatures.
"The water gives off latent heat when it freezes, which actually warms the air and insulates plant tissue," Gastier said.
Most farms lost from one-third to all of their berries not protected with irrigation water during the frost, he said.
Gastier said most large-scale operations don't cover the crops because it's too labor-intensive. The covers the Haus farm drapes over plants can keep them 20 degrees warmer than the outside air. Gasper said he uses both covers and irrigation to keep crops safe.
treed@vindy.com