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Post by Dutch on May 13, 2013 4:52:09 GMT -5
Wonder if this weather is going to take out the apple crop in many area?
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Post by wentzler on May 13, 2013 5:11:30 GMT -5
if blossoms are still cloaked with petals, they'll withstand a couple extra coupe degrees below 32. Up Saladsburg way they are just approaching full bloom, down here, petal fall is starting. at 32 there will be some calyx end scarring, at 31 weaker cluster 'set' fruit may lose seed count, and if sufficient the fruit will abort. At 30 things get a bit dicey. At 29,60-70 percent loss, depending on warm up sequence in the morning, 28 degrees usually takes everything but sheltered locations.
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Post by dougell on May 13, 2013 7:24:25 GMT -5
We had a heavy frost this morning.
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Post by bigredneck on May 13, 2013 8:37:21 GMT -5
We had a light frost here, a little on my truck, none on the grass etc.,32 degrees at 6:30 A.M.
we are not far from the river which always seems to keep us a few degrees warmer.
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2013 8:43:40 GMT -5
Where is that global warming thingy when we need it? ;D
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Post by bawanajim on May 13, 2013 9:03:35 GMT -5
I think we are going to be safe as far as apples go, last week was beautiful here, every thing in full bloom including the dog woods and red oaks, it could be a banner year for a mast crop.
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Post by bigredneck on May 13, 2013 9:42:33 GMT -5
Muttley, if we could only "can up" all the hot air the politicians put out we would never have to worry about a frost ;D
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Post by Dutch on May 13, 2013 12:18:24 GMT -5
Muttley, if we could only "can up" all the hot air the politicians put out we would never have to worry about a frost ;D The entire ice sheet on Greenland would melt!
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2013 16:13:55 GMT -5
Snow showers here three times "so far" today. Right at freezing this morning but I think the apple blossoms will be ok. Ed, was that you coming out of Creekside yesterday around 3:15 or so...?
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Post by wentzler on May 13, 2013 17:23:16 GMT -5
Yes, Bowbum it was. I got snowed on a couple times today as well. Not much more than sharp spits. Mutt... A warmer planet, and whacked weather patterns actually lend to such things as renegade frosts, but this one is within the typical expectations and probabilities of the date. My dad never slept well until after the last full moon in May. We lost the entire crop one year the morning my brother was born, May 23, 1963. Full Moon. Again, I believe May 16, 1973, Full Moon.
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Post by bushmaster on May 13, 2013 17:27:03 GMT -5
We had a pretty hard frost in Beaver County. Luckily I covered my veggie garden with a frost blanket and sealed it up tight. I just peaked and everything looks great. I'll leave on tonight as well.
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Post by Bill on May 13, 2013 18:14:13 GMT -5
No frost here last night but I doubt if we'll be so lucky tonight. It did snow here today though.
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Post by TusseyMtman on May 13, 2013 18:33:58 GMT -5
Mid 20's for much of northern PA tonight. Could even be a few isolated readings in the teens.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2013 4:29:26 GMT -5
Brrrrrrr! 27 degrees up here in Daleville, heavy frost. Wild apple trees & blueberries are in full bloom.
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Post by Dutch on May 14, 2013 5:16:43 GMT -5
Three of the last 4 years, in my area of Potter, we have lost our apple crop to frost. I'm guessing this will make it 4 out of 5.
Previous 5 years, never lost a crop.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2013 5:38:11 GMT -5
So does this mean we are on the cusp of a new ice age instead of the polar ice caps melting? I worry about the acorn crop in Somerset County once again. If we lose the white oak acorns again this year it will make it four straight years. The weather service did not issue a frost warning for that area since the growing season does not start until a week or so from now. Funny. The trees did start to leaf out, so are they not growing?
As a side note, I remeber way back when we first started gardening, the local extension office saying that final frost day for Saint Thomas was May 10. That at the time was the latest a killing frost had happened. Our final frost day is now May 24, so May 14 is within that time frame.
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2013 5:49:40 GMT -5
I planted my banana peppers last week thinking I could get away with it
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Post by wentzler on May 14, 2013 6:06:09 GMT -5
For those interested in knowing if their fruit crop sustained a fatal hit If the fruit and foliage isn't 'toasted' black...at the very bottom of the blossom is the embryo that will become an apple/peach/pear etc. It is somewhat easier for a novice to locate it if the blossom petals are carefully removed from the flower, and appears to be a minature 'bulb' type affair attached to the stem. If you carefully 'slice' through the center of it, perpendicular to the stem, the 'seed', or what will become the seed/seeds appear as clean white tissue surrounded by green tissue, which will eventually become the flesh of that particular fruit. If that inner tissue is brown, the nuclear material has frozen, the seed/seeds will die and the fruit will abort. With apples, grapes, pomegranites and other fruits with a complement of multiple seeds a fruit will not abort if a proscribed number of seeds survive, usually on the morning 'off sun' side...but the fruit will usually be considerably mis-shapen, and bear external scarring and/or 'cat-facing'. "frost" is the result of a radiation heat loss, which can mitigated by cloud cover, wind, elevation, and ground cover, or over cover. That applies to the plant or tree's own canopy, and in light frosts, damage may occur in the periphery, and less on the 'inside' of the canopy. As things (Mother Earth) 'heat up, there is another calorie exchange, from fruit/tissue to atmosphere. The rate of that second exchange is also critical to survival in cases of lighter freezes. SLOWER is better. That tissue which receives the the very earliest of the suns rays is doomed as the cell walls rupture during the rapid exchange. Conversely, those deep dark locations that continue to experience radiation heat loss much past dawn (sunrise) are also doomed. Long ago 'smudge burns' were thought to be a method. They don't work, they get you up real early, get you all heated up, burn tissue closet to the fire, and everything else freezes anyway. Covering works as we all know, as long as the coverings are removed in proper sequence. Another technique, is irrigation by overhead application. The process of water freezing on and subsequently thawing on the tissue also requires a calorie exchange, and in this method that exchange is sufficient to protect the tissue within over about a three or four degree range below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. I could not resist an old urge to be awake and observing this morning. I do not think the frost was sufficient here to effect a major burn off of all locations. Low lying areas probably got toasted, higher elevations with good air drainage I suspect to be minimal impact. I will know later today...when I get out my pocket knife. And now all of ya what didn't know..do know..how to go check yer own locations and 'crops'. I recommend though..that if you find healthy white tissue inside of a dozen blossoms or so...you quit excersing new knowledge...and leave some fruit to mature Ya kin peel 'em a couple months from now
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Post by TusseyMtman on May 14, 2013 6:20:41 GMT -5
22 in Smethport, officially. Thats the lowest I could find this a.m. Certainly, there are some low spots up there that hit the teens. We had 32 here. I live on a hill. We have had only one damaging spring frost/freeze in 6 years, and that was last year due to the early green-up.
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Post by bigredneck on May 14, 2013 10:16:17 GMT -5
28 here this A.M., lots of frost on the grass etc,
Great info Wentzler, thanks
My apple trees, with the exception of the Granny Smith, are done with the blossoms same with the pears. Pears have started forming.
I doubt my peach tree will have fruit this year. When it does the peaches bow the limbs to the ground, haven't had that problem for a couple years.
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Post by Dutch on May 14, 2013 12:30:11 GMT -5
Ed, I'll see what I find in Potter this weekend. You sound like you know something about fruit?
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Post by bushmaster on May 14, 2013 18:03:02 GMT -5
Pulled the blankets off my garden a couple hrs. ago. Got lucky, everything looks great! Only got down to 31 in Aliquippa.
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Post by Bill on May 14, 2013 20:44:41 GMT -5
It frosted here last night, I'm not sure how cold it got. I have two concord grape vines that got cooked, a shame because they were going to have a nice crop this year.
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Post by wentzler on May 14, 2013 21:05:58 GMT -5
Folks..I learned sumpin' today I did some blossom slicin', a bit of work, whilst I work, I look around a bit..and think...that..I'd like to learn something in the process. Here's today's epiphany : Chesnuts are highly susceptible to frost !!! Of all the vegetation on my own two achers (< get it? ...achers??" ...the couple chestnut tress I got growing took it the worst. Burned back maybe four inches?? My couple young ash trees..took it next bad Blossom count on the apples no early visible damage, Cherries..maybe 40 % gone, Grapes are still a ways off fer blossom, oak didn't even wilt. Be a day or so 'til I get to hit the ridges, though. And being real close to the 'Sock helps... ...ummm, sometimes Major progress today on the home front...good day. Hope ya'll fared half as well ed
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Post by wentzler on May 14, 2013 21:07:54 GMT -5
Redneck...let's talk sometime about peach 'culture'? They're kinda a 'specialty' for me ( I have references ed
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