Monday, April 25, 2016
YOUNGSTOWN
Peace Valley Orchards farmer Dan Simmons expected his apple orchard – his livelihood – to be wiped out a few weeks back.
His apple trees had green showing, and when the green shows and the temperature drops below 20 degrees, you expect a loss, Simmons said.
“I can’t find one or two dead apple blossoms,” he said. “I didn’t think we would have anything.”
The shocked Simmons was happy to report he sees no impact – at this point – to his fruit crop at his Rogers farm.
“My dad is 87 years old and he has been doing this his entire life. And he said, ‘That is the screwiest thing I have ever seen,’” Simmons said. “This is new territory.”
The concern came on the weekend of April 9 when the Mahoning Valley saw some snowfall. Temperatures that weekend were in the teens. The lowest temperature was recorded during the morning of April 10 when it was 15 degrees at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, said Eric Wilhelm, chief meteorologist at The Vindicator’s broadcast partner, 21 WFMJ-TV.
When a green bud on an apple tree is exposed to a temperature of 18 degrees or lower for 30 minutes, 10 percent of the buds will die. Ninety percent of the buds will die if exposed to 10 degrees or lower for at least 30 minutes.
Read what other crops could be affected and how long the threat lasts in Tuesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.