Local growers on alert for killing frost in coming weeks that could devastate crops
To the delight of flower lovers, fruit trees have exploded with early vibrant blossoms across the Midwest.
But to fruit farmers these early blooms inspire more distress than delight. If the flowers are hit by a frost and die, the trees’ fruit crops will die with them.
“We need all the prayers we can get,” said Mick Klug, who supplies peaches, cherries, apples, pears and more to Chicago restaurants and several area farmers markets. With these fragile early blooms, “it only takes one night in the low 20s to devastate the crop. And we still have to get through the whole month of April and the first two weeks of May.”
Klug’s family grows 3,000 fruit trees in St. Joseph, Mich., just across Lake Michigan in a state that grows the majority of the tree fruit in the Midwest.
This year’s unseasonably high temperatures have coaxed hundreds of his fruit trees into full bloom more than a month ahead of schedule. And while that could mean hefty and early harvests if the weather stays warm, it could also mean disaster.
The precarious situation has fruit growers obsessively watching weather reports, and according to WGN-TV meteorologist Tom Skilling, they have good reason to be worried.
WGN Weather Center forecasts show that the Benton Harbor area in Michigan could drop to 30 degrees by Friday night, and frosts are possible for several weeks.
“We’re not out of the woods in terms of a frost threat here or in southwest Lower Michigan,” Skilling said. “The median date of the last frost dates there occurs between April 10 and April 30 — but the last observed dates for frost there extend into mid- and late May.”
Mark Longstroth, a fruit educator at the Michigan State University Extension, said half an hour at 28 degrees around bloom time will cause damage, and half an hour at 25 degrees could take 90 percent of the crop.
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