Apple growers concerned crops may be lost this season
Apple growers across the region are concerned their crops may be lost due to the wild weather swings. With temperatures climbing and dipping weekly, growers hope the buds hold off until at least April.
Tom and Karen Ferri have had their apple orchard in Clarksburg since 2012. They have about 50,000 apple trees on their 20 acres.
"If the bloom comes out and we get a frost or a freeze, we lose the bloom, we lose the apples, we lose the crop," said Karen.
Karen says some of the buds have already started to swell.
"If that happens, it's not going to be a happy ending," she added. "The buds are swelling - the buds haven't broken yet. This cooler weather today and cooler in the evenings for the next little while is our friend because it keeps them cocooned inside the bud. We don't want them coming out of the bud yet," shared Karen.
This year's weather patterns have been similar to those of 2012, a year when many crops were lost.
"We are holding our breath. Some of the temperatures we've had in the last week parallel what we had in 2012 which was an absolute disastrous year. However, these cooler temperatures today and through the evenings are good for us," said Karen.
"If everything goes right, we want 50 apples per tree," said Tom.
- Download the CTV News app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates sent to your email inbox
The Ferris grows seven different varieties of apples, and most of their product ends up in the GTA. They are still winter pruning their trees in anticipation of the season.
"We need to be able to feed ourselves locally. We don't need to be dependent on importing food," Karen said.
Apple growers say they would be thrilled to see about another month of cooler temperatures, but that's up to Mother Nature.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
President Joe Biden calls Japan and India 'xenophobic' nations that do not welcome immigrants
President Joe Biden has called Japan and India “xenophobic” countries that do not welcome immigrants, lumping the two with adversaries China and Russia as he tried to explain their economic circumstances and contrasted the four with the U.S. on immigration.
Universities grapple with the complicated politics of campus encampments
Montreal police are facing pressure to move in and dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment on McGill University campus on Thursday, as a growing number of universities across this country grapple with the tough decision of how to handle the protests.