Fruit buds have burst, leaves and flowers are emerging quickly, and growers are finally able to assess how much damage was done during hard freezes of April 5 and April 9. It appears apples and grapes were unscathed, according to a new report from Michigan State University Extension fruit educators Bill Shane, Mark Longstroth and Brad Baughman. Apricots and plums were not so lucky. Here's their status report: Apricots are in bloom. Damage from freezes two weeks ago was widespread, but most growers report that they still have viable flowers and fruit set. As the first tree to bloom apricots are must likely to be hurt by spring freezes, but not all the flowers are needed for a full crop. If only 25 percent of the flowers become fruit, most growers would consider it a full crop which still needed to be hand thinned to remove small fruit and promote growth of the remaining fruit. Peaches are beginning to bloom with some sites and varieties already at full bloom. There seems to be light damage from the April 5 and 9 freezes, although some growers in less favorable sites report significant fruit bud damage. Peaches generally have many more flowers than are needed and they are thinned several times to ensure a crop of large fruit and prevent limb breakage. Growers will assess the crop in several weeks as the fruit emerges. Sweet cherry bloom has begun. Sweet cherries probably show the most damage of all the tree fruit from the early April freeze events. Damage appears worse in areas away from Lake Michigan which were more advanced due to warmer temperatures. Tart cherry flower buds are at green tip to bud burst. There was little if any damage to tart cherries. Crop potential for most sites is good to excellent. Japanese plums are blooming. Damage in Japanese plums varies greatly by variety and location. Some suffered considerable loss, others very little. Like peaches Japanese plums often require extensive hand thinning. Abundant flowers and fruit seen in some varieties may still provide a good crop. A more accurate assessment can be made several weeks after bloom when fruit set is apparent. European plums are at tight cluster to very early white tip, and suffered little damage from the freezes. Apples are at tight cluster. Early varieties such as Zestar, are at open cluster to first pink. Apples appear to have suffered little damage. Loss of the king bloom been reported in the early varieties. Pears are at tight to open cluster. Grapes Juice grape buds are at early swell, green can be seen on some buds. Vinifera wine grapes have not started to swell. There does not appear to be any damage to grapes from the winter or spring freezes. Blueberry flower buds are at bud burst (pinecone). There does not appear to be any damage from the winter or spring freezes in blueberries. Strawberry leaves are emerging from the crown. The flower trusses are visible in the crown. At this stage very cold temperatures down to about 10F would be required to injure the flower buds. Once the flower buds emerge they can be killed by temperatures in the 20s. Bramble growth is well underway. Leaves are unfolding in raspberries and the flower clusters can be seen. Warm weather later last week and through the weekend with highs near 80 and lows near 40 pushed plant development rapidly in the SW Michigan. The tree fruits are now susceptible to injury at temperatures in the mid to upper 20s. Bloom has begun in stone fruit. Warm temperatures are forecast for this week with highs in the 60s. Source -