The Recent Cold Snap

IThe recent cold snap has affected the number of nectarines we expect to harvest but should not have materially affected the number of peaches available for harvest this year.

n late March we had a very cold 4 days. This followed a two day period approximately a week earlier where temperatures fell below 28f over night.

During the initial period, most of our nectarines were already in bloom so we ran one of our orchard heaters to keep the fruit from freezing and were successful in that regard. Late the same week we had the propane tank refilled so that we could maintain the temperature over the 4 day cold snap.

The primary heater is located and covers the more mature nectarines, Contender and China Pearl peaches.

At this point, the China Pearl peaches had begun to bloom but the Contenders were still 85 or 90% in bud.

After seeking advice from our two advisors, we decided not to heat the orchard for the 4 day cold snap as the nectarines, as young as they are, are not yet in full production and the cost of running the heater was not warranted by the amount of fruit we expected them to produce.

Consequently, we will have very few, although definitely some, nectarines this year. Next year the trees should be in full production so we will make sure that we heat them appropriately, should that be necessary. Once we know the actual number of available nectarines we will advise everyone of their availability.

The Contender and China Pearl peaches are in good shape and we should have a decent crop worth picking.

We will keep you up to date.