SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Freezing temperatures this week caused damage to several fruit crops this week, with more freezing temperatures expected on the night of Wednesday, May 12.
However, Extension Small Fruit Educator at Michigan State University Mark Longstroth says the worst appears to be over.
“It doesn’t look like anything that’s coming is gonna be anywhere close to as cold as Saturday morning was,” Longstroth said. “The area west of Kalamazoo in Van Buren County, northern Berrien County and Allegan a little ways was probably the coldest part in the state Saturday morning. We got lows anywhere from 27 in southern Berrien County to 29 in South Haven next to the lake, to 20 in some of the low spots. 20 and 22 was a common low. 26 was another common low.”
Even if the worst may be over, fruit crops still took a hit as a result.
“The early apples had started to bloom, and lots of the other apples were still in pink,” Longstroth said. “Peaches were still in bloom, pears were in full bloom, European plums were in full bloom, blueberries were at tight cluster. I thought blueberries could take 25 without any injury, and we were supposed to have a windy night up until about midnight, so I recommended that people use sprinklers and turn them on before it gets to freezing.”
Although damage was sustained, Longstroth did some surveying and was pleasantly surprised that some crops fared better than others, namely grapes.
“I looked at a grape vineyard and I expected some pretty extensive damage there,” Longstroth said. “It only looked like half the buds were dead, I expected almost all of them to be dead.”
Longstroth adds that the damage in southwest Michigan appears to be the worst among other areas in the state that experienced crop damage.
“Most of the other parts of the state are gonna suffer some, but very little damage in comparison to what we see,” Longstroth said. “A lot of long faces in the fruit industry here in southwest Michigan, but it’s not going to impact the entire state as much as its gonna impact us. We were quite cold.”
That being said, Longstroth maintains that the damage to crops was not as bad as it could have been.
Elsewhere in Michigan, MLive reports that six Michigan cities experienced recent record-low cold temperatures. For example, Alpena clocked in at 22 degrees, which is the lowest-recorded since 1934.
Meanwhile, the Battle Creek Police department is warning of freezing temperatures from 11 p.m. Tuesday evening to 9 a.m. Wednesday morning. Frost and freeze conditions are expected to kill crops and other sensitive vegetation, as well as possibly damaging unprotected outdoor plumbing.
Police are advising citizens to take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold.
