LaFayette, NY -- Apples trees in Central New York are about two to three weeks ahead in budding, meaning temperatures below 30 degrees could be devastating to the crop.
Orchard owners say the trees are in or nearing the “pink” stage, which is only a week or so before a full bloom. The pink name comes from the pink or magenta color the buds have.
“If we get a hard freeze now, much below 25, it will wipe the crop out,” said Dennis Ouellette, of Ontario Orchards west of Oswego.
“We get nervous anytime you hit 32,” said Warren Abbott, of Abbott Orchards in Lysander. “We’d like it to not be below freezing from here on out.”
The warm temperatures of the last few weeks have put the apple trees budding and blooming process ahead of schedule here and statewide.
“We are just about pink, about three weeks early,” said Mark Fleckenstein of Beak & Skiff in Onondaga. “There actually are two concerns with the weather right now. One is freezing from now to Memorial Day. The other is weather around blossom time for the bees to do their (pollination) work. We’d like it to be 65-70, nice spring-type days.”
On Friday, Cornell Cooperative Extension sent an advisory to apple and other growers after the buds went through three growth stages last week, when temperatures were about 20 degrees above normal. Usually, the buds go through one stage a week.
The threat of a hard frost will be around for about another month.
The 10-day forecast on weather.com from The Weather Channel shows low temperatures for LaFayette to be above 32 nine days and at 32 degrees for April 13. The 10-day for Oswego shows all lows above 35 degrees and for Baldwinsville (the nearest to Lysander), the forecast shows 32 degrees for April 13 and the other days forecast for lows in the 40s.
The National Agricultural Statistics Service states last year's apple crop in New York was worth $224 million.