Frost caused heavy damage to this year’s fruit crop in parts of Indiana and Michigan.

Beasley’s Orchard near Indianapolis estimated losing at least 90 percent of its apples from heavy frost on April 21. Third generation owner Clyde Beasley said he was hoping the 3 inches of snow that came down just hours before the frost would help insulate his blooms against the 26 degree temperatures.

“Right now, the prognosis is not very good,” Beasley said.

Initially, Beasley said it looked like a good portion of his crop survived because damage seemed limited to the outer edges of the blooms in his 25 acres of apple trees in Danville. The loss became more apparent the next day once the sun came out from the once cloudy skies.

“As we cut more buds open today we’re seeing more damage,” he said.

The five acres of strawberries at the farm covered by hay looked practically unscathed. “Minimal loss on those,” Beasley said.

Beasley’s Orchard also lost its entire apple crop last year when temperatures dipped to 24 degrees on May 9.

Fruit crop losses were heaviest throughout the central and southern parts of the state because of trees mostly in full bloom.

The buds were just partially open or closed in more of the fruit trees up north, providing the flowers inside with at least some cover against the heavy freeze.

The loss was anywhere from 60 percent to 40 percent in some varieties of apples at Kercher’s Sunrise Orchards near Goshen in the northern part of the state.

Other varieties like Golden Delicious, Gala and Honeycrisp suffered little to no damage, said Maureen Kercher, whose husband’s great grandfather started the 75 acre orchard 99 years ago.

Kercher also said the trees having more buds this year will help make up for some of the losses. “We’ll still have quite a few apples,” she said.

The jury was still out for other producers closer to Lake Michigan like Garwood Orchards and Williams Orchard near LaPorte.

Carrie Garwood said there was damage but to what extent will take several days.

Her farm, in the family since 1831, has 500 acres of apple and peach trees.

Garwood said it’s possible some trees fared better than others because of how temperatures can differ slightly across the landscape and just a few degrees can make a big difference. “It’s a big orchard and every area is different,” she said.

She also said her orchard for some reason always seems to escape frost with enough of a crop to survive until the next season. Most of the fruit at Garwood Orchards is sold to retailers across the country while the rest is offered for u-pick and at on-site market.

“Some of our friends in southern Indiana have lost their whole crop. We think we’re still going to have something. Hopefully, that’s the case,” she said.

The losses in Michigan were heaviest in the southern part of the state where the opening of buds on fruit trees are on a similar schedule as northern Indiana.

Mark Longstroth, a small fruit educator for Michigan State University, said the buds in more northerly places like Grand Rapids usually don’t start opening until early May.

He also said frost isn’t as much of a problem along the west side of the state because of temperatures helped by winds cutting across the warmer waters of Lake Michigan.

“Usually if we get a big freeze event like this it’s very unusual for it to affect the whole state but it’s not unusual for it to affect one part of the state,” Longstroth said.