After a sweltering long weekend farmers at local apple orchards are worried about frost.
At Tom Ferri’s orchard in the Beaver Valley, his trees are covered in blossoms after surviving the extremely cold and harsh winter.
“The Cortland is in full bloom and the Gala are not quite in full bloom, but this to an apple grower looks very promising,” said Ferri.
Despite a promising outlook for the season, apple growers in the Beaver Valley will be keeping a close eye on the forecast and their thermometers this week because the blossoms are extremely sensitive to freezing temperatures.
The temperature is forecasted to drop to a low of one degree overnight. Ferri say one or two degrees can make a difference.
In April 2012 frost wipe out more than 80 per cent of the apple crops across the province. Since then apple growers have installed giant fans or wind machines to help circulate air and prevent frost from forming.
Some growers even hired helicopters to fly low over the orchards if there is the threat of frost on the blossom.
“Our wind machine is always here and in the future there will probably be another one up here, but we use a helicopter and that decision has to be made by noon,” said Ferri.
Apple growers say the warm weather over the weekend helped accelerate the apple blossoms which are about two weeks earlier than normal.
