By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent STANTON, Mich. —Late spring frost is taking its toll on Michigan’s cherry crop.
According to Phil Schwallier, Michigan State University (MSU) Extension district horticultural agent for the commercial fruit growers in West Central Michigan, an April 30 freeze caused varied damage to Michigan’s cherry crop.
“We have some sweet cherry varieties that were hurt by the frost probably moderately, and occasionally there’s severe damage on some sweet cherry varieties,” Schwallier said.
The extent of damage is “determined on a site-by-site basis,” he said. “Some sites we hope weren’t hurt too bad.”
Michigan produces about 70-75 percent of the tart cherries grown in the United States, making it the nation’s No. 1 cherry producing state.
Schwallier said that some areas of Southwest Michigan experienced more damage than other parts of the state.
“Southwest Michigan had the same temperatures that we had here in the greater Grand Rapids area, but they were a little further along than we were,” Schwallier said. “As the crop develops, it gets more sensitive to temperatures.”
“As we go north from Grand Rapids, the damage is less,” Schwallier said. “They had cloud cover in the Traverse City area, so they didn’t have the colder temperatures.”
Todd Fox, a fourth-generation fruit grower in Oceana County near the Lake Michigan shoreline, said the April 30 freeze caused “significant damage” to portions of his farm’s tart cherry crop.
“We saw significant damage to the buds, especially near the lake, but inland appears to have been spared,” Fox said. “Right now we are at the stage of petal fall, just post-bloom. We’re about to find out whether or not pollination was effective.”
While he said it’s too early to tell the full extent of damage, he said some areas may have lost half of the crop.
“Those blocks near the lake may have lost half of their potential,” Fox said. “Other areas were spared, so we could end up all right.”
With about 1,500 acres in cherries, apples, peaches, pears and asparagus, Fox said other crops are coming along this spring.
“This weather provides good growing conditions for the asparagus,” he said. “We have some damage from extreme cold in the winter on peaches, but it’s too early to tell the extent of that damage.”
According to the Michigan Field Office of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, average temperatures for the week ending May 4 ranged from 7 degrees below normal in the western Upper Peninsula to 2 degrees below normal in the southeastern Lower Peninsula. Several cold nights also resulted in frost mornings, with some reports of damage, particularly to the fruit crops.
“Temperatures in the mid to upper 20s during the week caused light to moderate damage to some fruit crops in all regions,” the report states. “Damage varied widely according to fruit crop development.”
Schwallier said it’s too early to tell the full extent of potential damage.
“We never know what our crop is until we actually harvest it,” he said. “At this point, the fruit are growing.”
He said apples and other fruit “appear to be healthy and alive. Sometimes the frost can damage the tissue that you can’t see visually, so it doesn’t set. Probably about June 15 is when we really will be able to know the true extent of the damage.”
This farm news was published in the May 21, 2008 issue of the Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
