When temperatures dropped below freezing in many locations in Harvard during the early morning hours of May 18, apples, pears, and blueberries that had just begun to emerge were fighting for their lives. They didn’t all make it.
Some damage was immediately obvious in the form of brown fruit. But there were also apples that looked healthy on the outside but were brown when orchardists cut them open. Low-lying areas, like Doe Orchards, were hit the hardest. All the orchardists said the full extent of the damage won’t be known until later in the season. The entire peach crop in Harvard was wiped out earlier this year by a record cold night in February.
Linda Hoffman holds two baby Asian pears that have been halved. The halves on the left and right are from a healthy fruit. The two halves in the middle are black from the frost. The frost-damaged fruit eventually turns completely black and drops from the tree. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Pam Lawson, co-owner of Doe Orchards, told the Press “We’ve never seen this situation before.” She said there is significant damage in the blueberries and apples, although they are finding some healthy apples. According to Doe’s Facebook page, temperatures dropped to 28 degrees for several hours that night. “We’ll depend on the crops we can plant now,” she said, including vegetables, sunflowers, tomatoes, and pumpkins, and the Christmas trees they sell in November.
Westward Orchards farmer Chris Green said the loss there is “in the epic category.” The apples at their lower elevation Littleton County Road orchard “might be completely wiped out,” he said, and those represent about 30% of Westward’s crop. In the orchards on the hill near the store, he said, he’s not seeing as much damage. But at least a quarter of the blueberries didn’t survive, and the strawberries all froze. His early tomato plants that he grows for the store and Westward’s community supported agriculture program, CSA, also froze, so he will have only later varieties to offer this year.
Katie Carlson of Carlson Orchards initially told the Press that at first glance, things looked OK, but they hadn’t yet fully assessed the situation. After a few days, co-owner Bruce Carlson cut open apples in various orchards, and the ones in the lower locations were brown inside. The apples in higher elevations, where the temperature just touched 32 degrees, according to Katie, seem to be OK, she said, but it’s too soon to tell how big the crop will be. She added that they may not know about the blueberries until the start of the season in early July.
Old Frog Pond Farm owner Linda Hoffman showed the Press the damage to the Asian Pears in her orchard. The trees have a mix of damaged pears and healthy ones, with most of the damage appearing to be in the lower branches. The pears that won’t survive are mottled with brown spots. When Hoffman cut one of those pears open, the seeds inside were black and the fruit was brown. She said the damaged fruit won’t grow anymore, and it will continue to turn brown and eventually drop off the tree. The apples in her orchards look OK so far, she said, although for those that were still in the end stage of blossoming, it’s too soon to tell. The blossoms were tipped with brown and falling off. The raspberries had damage to their terminal shoots, but Hoffman said those will grow back and the crop should be OK.
Wendell Willard of Willard Farm said nothing had been planted there yet, so they are fine, so far. It’s still early in the season, though, and farmers and orchardists are still reeling from last summer’s drought. “Mother Nature seems to hate us right now,” Katie Carlson said. Green said he worries about Westward’s survival. Lawson took a more reflective approach on the orchard’s Facebook page, saying this year’s smaller crops will give them “a chance to rethink what we do and how we do it.” All said they hope the community will continue to support them by buying what they have to offer this summer.
