Repeated assaults by deep freezes last winter has caused some damage to blueberry crops, but a Purdue University professor says that blueberries weathered the cold better than some fruits.

Bruce Bordelon, a professor in the horticulture and landscape architecture department at Purdue, said that based on what he's heard from growers, the crop suffered some damage but overall came out fairly well.

“Blueberries, like raspberries, are fairly cold-hardy,” Bordelon said.

Not every grower's crop dodged the blade of subzero temperatures.

Country Heritage Winery & Vineyard in LaOtto, which has Blueberry Acres, has 35 acres of blueberries and “lost nearly all of them,” said employee Megan Opliger. The business harvested some blueberries, which are for sale “first-come, first-served,” Opliger said. Opliger said the plants themselves were not killed by the cold, just their buds.

Peaches were entirely wiped out in Indiana, Bordelon said, and grapes suffered heavy damage from the cold. “There was even some damage to apples,” he said.

Source - http://www.freshplaza.com/