WATERPORT, NY (AP) -- New York fruit growers say unusually warm weather has put buds on their trees two to three weeks early. Now they're hoping it stays mild because a hard frost could kill the buds and wipe out crops.
Cornell Cooperative Extension sent an advisory to apple and other growers Friday after the buds went through three growth stages last week when temperatures hit the 70s and 80s - about 20 degrees above normal. Usually, the buds go through one stage a week, fruit specialist Debbie Breth said.
The advisory let growers know the temperatures to keep an eye on. At the buds' current tight cluster-early pink stage, if the temperature dips to 27 degrees, about 10 percent of the crop could be lost. A 21-degree reading could wipe out 90 percent. The odds get worse as buds blossom and become less able to fight off the cold temperatures.
Normal temperatures are back this week. The threat of a hard frost will be around for about another month.
"We're very worried," said Rod Farrow, co-owner of Lamont Fruit Farms in Waterport. "If it gets warm again, we run the risk of bloom and I've never seen that before in April."
New York's fruit crop was worth $305 million last year, with apples accounting for $224 million, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
But New York farmers haven't been the only ones affected by unusually warm weather. Some apple and cherry growers in Michigan say trees there blossomed about three weeks earlier than normal. A warm February and March also led to an early bloom in cherry and pear orchards in Washington and Oregon, giving growers there more days to worry until the frost threat passes.
"Our crops are certainly susceptible and have been, more so this year than they would in a normal year because we're blooming so early," B.J. Thurlby, president of the Northwest Cherry Growers, said Monday. Farmers have been circulating warm air by running giant fans to protect the orchards during dangerously cold nights, he said.
"The good news is there is no reason we shouldn't have cherries for the Fourth of July," the top holiday for fruit and vegetable sales, he said. Last year's cherries came later.
The early buds also mean farmers have to spray to protect against disease earlier than usual and more often because of spring rains. Farrow expects to spend $60,000 more to spray his 430 acres of fruit this year.
If very warm weather returns in New York, growers may need to pollinate the orchards ahead of the usual schedules, too, Breth said. That could be difficult because many farms work with beekeepers whose bees are committed down south for the next three weeks.
"We know this isn't a guaranteed business, but this is shaky," said Chris Watt, who owns about 200 acres of orchards in the Albion area, near Lake Ontario. "This is like going to the roulette wheel. It's out of our control."
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