The next two days will be tough on local fruit farmers and their crops. Weather forecasters are calling for temperatures to drop into the mid-20s through Wednesday evening, a cold blast on the heels of unseasonably warmer January and February.
“It’s been such a mild winter, our crop is a lot further along than it normally would be,” said strawberry famer Jeffrey Frye at Karefree Produce in Carthage. “Depending on what happens this weather, it we get through and the berries survive, we could open for the season in a few weeks.”
Last Saturday he started pulling covers over his plants in anticipation of the hard freeze. The heavy fabric sheets — approximately 50 foot wide by 300 foot long — will help protect the green flowers and green berries.
This year Frye said he’s trying something new: instead of one layer, he’s putting down two layers of protective fabric.
“The row covers are good down to about 25 degrees. But once we get below that, they will not give them enough protection. So we’ve doubled up,” he said. “I’m putting down two layers of covering and then we will irrigate on top of that.”
He’ll also run his drip irrigation lines through the strawberry beds. The water will be cold, but far warmer than the air temperature that could hover around 24 degrees.
Karefree Produce was founded by Frye and his wife, Karen, on family land in Carthage in 2009. The couple grow strawberries, asparagus and blueberries, providing fresh produce to local restaurants, the Sandhills Farm to Table Co-Op, Lowes Food in Pinehurst, Fresh Market in Southern Pines, as well as other stores across the state. Karefree Produce also operates a seasonal fruit and vegetable stand on U.S. 15-501.
Frye said he’ll know within a day or two of this week’s cold snap if his efforts were successful. If not, his strawberry season harvest could be delayed by at least a month.
“The asparagus is still in the ground so it will not be affected as much. And the blueberries are not far enough along, so they should be fine,” he said. “It’s just the strawberries we are worried about.”
New and Old Protections
Fruit farmers across the region have scrambled this week to put protection measures in place, using both new technologies and time-honored strategies to minimize crop damage from the extreme cold.
Strawberries are the most vulnerable right now, but peach trees and blueberry bushes could also be damaged if their buds have reached a certain stage of development
“We all have the same reaction when it’s 70 degrees in January. You got outside and think, this is wonderful,” said Richmond County Extension Agent Paige Burns. “But the implications are never good.”
Warmer weather encourages trees and plants to bud out early. The more advanced the flower or fruit is, the more susceptible it is to damage when the temperature drops.
“Strawberry growers are the best placed going into a situation like these because they have some pretty successful ways to protect their plants during freeze events. They will be up all night checking, but they have good tools to help them manage,” Burns said.
Common tools include low tunnels, temporary structures, usually 2 feet tall, constructed of wire hoops and heavy plastic coverings that provide some protection from the elements. There’s also fabric row coverings like what Frye uses.
“The farmers can put blankets essentially on the strawberry plants. They tuck them in and can keep them warm,” she said.
Irrigating over the top of plants — sometimes called “throwing water” — can also offer protection with a layer of ice over delicate blossoms.
“There is a common myth on freeze protection that the ice is acting as an insulator per se. It is actually the water converting to ice that protects the plant,” Burns explained. “When the water makes the change from liquid to ice, it throws off a tiny little heat molecule. This is what protects the plant from freezing, but the trick is you have to constantly apply water because it has to keep freezing for the heat conversion to take place.”
Protecting Trees Not as Easy
Unfortunately peach and blueberry growers don’t have quite as many tools in their toolbox to protect their crops during a cold snap.
Throwing water is more problematic because the ice can build up on peach branches or woody shrubs, causing breakage and other damage.
In Eagle Springs, Art Williams with Kalawi Farms is busy setting up four windmills that he will run all night long in his peach orchards.
He estimates at least 30 percent of his trees are already in bloom.
“It is frustrating when it is this early,” said Williams, noting in a typical year he sets up freeze protection when temperatures dip in April — not usually in March. “We still have a long time to go.”
Kalawi Farms stretches across 1,200 acres of farm crops and Williams raises about 350 acres of feed corn, tends a 50 acre peach orchard, 400 acres of wheat, 350 acres of soybeans and he collects pine straw. For the family’s farm stand, Williams grows sweet corn, watermelons, cantaloupes, and okra, and operate Ben’s Ice Cream, a popular treat destination along N.C. 211.
“The trees are not normally this mature this early. I don’t know why they are so far along. But we do have a lot with buds that haven’t moved,” Williams said. “Worst case is we’ll lose 50 percent of the crop tomorrow night.”
He is strategically placing the four wind machines with hopes they will provide protection to about 60 percent of his crop by blowing warm air that is rising back down to orchard level. Light wind is also in the forecast for Tuesday, but not Wednesday, and the ground is wet: all factors in how his trees will fare.
“The wind can help us because it disrupts frost formation in the buds,” Williams said. “And the good news is we had rain last weekend. Moisture rises and that creates heat. It is much better to have a wet floor than a dry floor when you have a freeze.”
A commercial farmer since 1980, when he took over the family land, Williams said he is a man of faith and relies on that in difficult times.
“Ultimately it is up to the Good Lord, our Maker, to take care of our situation,” he said. “We have a lot of faith in God. We will take it as it comes.”
David Thornton is also keeping a close eye on his peach trees. Together with his wife, Ann Marie, the couple grow heirloom apples in Vass for their James Creek Cider House and Stargazer hard cider, in addition to small peach orchards and other produce used for flavorings.
“The apples are not in the range where the 24-degree weather will affect them. For the most part, the buds are fairly tight,” he said. “But we’re at least three to four weeks ahead of where we should be with peaches. About 50 percent of our trees are in bloom or showing pink.
“Frost for the next two days will be formidable,” he added.
Thornton is setting up a wind machine and sprinkler irrigation to to protect his peach blossoms. The combination, he believes, should increase the temperature by five or six degrees.
“The critical temp for crop loss begins in the high 20s for anything actively in bloom,” he said. “So every degree counts. Protection can mean the difference between 10 percent kill and 90 percent kill. If you’re not doing anything Tuesday night to protect them, you might be looking at 90 percent loss,”
‘A Timing Thing’
The problem with this year’s peach crop is the inconsistent weather, Burns said.
“In 2007, we had a very late freeze and it down to 19 degrees in the Sandhills,” she said. “We had almost no peaches that year.”
Since that devastating season, more farmers have begun using windmills to circulate warm air around their peach orchards and blueberry patches. But the last four years or so have been more challenging because a pattern of warmer winters has meant plants are budding earlier.
“Trees need chilling hours. That is a certain number of hours that they are below 45 degrees, but above 25 degrees, they need to go through the process to flower in the spring,” she said. “Buds are set in late summer but it is a timing thing.”
Most peach tree varieties grown in the Sandhills require 1,000 to 1,200 chilling hours, a threshold that was met this winter despite the warmer temps in January and February. Pruning is also required for peach trees and factors in to when the tree will bear fruit.
“When you get to the point that a tree has been pruned and it’s had its chilling hours, and then it starts to warm up, that is when you are in trouble. Everything is starting to wake up,” Burns said.
Fortunately plants do not develop uniformly — regardless whether you’re talking about strawberries, peaches or blueberries — so different buds are more or less developed.
“A plant always overproduces. They are programmed to overproduce so they can survive a problematic situation. They don’t put all their eggs in one basket, especially peaches,” she said.
A standard peach tree only needs about 10 percent of its flowers to develop into fruit to provide a full crop. If the surplus buds are not frozen off, or blown off by wind, the farmer must go in to thin the blooms.
“Having a little freeze is good, but it is unpredictable,” said Burns. “How cold is it? How long is it going to be cold? Is it still or windy? How humid or dry is it?”
There are no foolproof methods to protect fields when severe cold and wind conspire in the forecast.
“At the end of these next two days we can start looking at the damage. Some crop damage will be obvious immediately and in other cases, it will take weeks before the farmer can determine how much damage has occured,” she said.
Source - https://www.thepilot.com
