A spring already full of hurdles for Eastern wineries and other fruit growers because of the coronavirus pandemic and the associated stay-at-home orders is about to another one this weekend, with the forecast of frost possible Friday through Sunday nights.
A surge of unusually cold air for May is plunging south from the Arctic and should cover most of the area east of the Rocky Mountains this weekend. Daily records are expected to fall throughout communities in the Great Lakes and Northeast this weekend, according to weather.com, with a frost possible as far south as part of the Carolinas and the Southeast and wet snow likely farther north. More than 6 inches is forecast in parts of Maine. The setup also could a rare May lake-effect snow in some of the Great Lakes snowbelts, weather.com noted.
Any gardeners across Pennsylvania should be ready to bring in flowers and vegetables each night or cover them with a sheet, blanket or cardboard box to lessen their susceptibility to the cold temperatures.
Obviously, grape and other fruit growers don’t have the same easy options to minimize the potential damage that a frost could do to their crops. Some of the early-ripening grapes already have passed bud break, leaving them vulnerable to temperatures that drop into the low 30s and mid- to upper 20s. The buds are what will produce the grapes that will account for the year’s harvest.
Jeff Zick is the vineyard manager at Nimble Hill Winery & Brewery in Pennsylvania’s Wyoming County, and he said that his biggest fear now is Saturday morning. “We have two varieties, Chardonnay and Blaufrankisch, that are at about 25 percent bud break,” he said. “All other varieties the buds are extremely swollen but the leaves have yet to emerge. With forecast temperatures falling below freezing between the hours of 3 and 8 a.m., we will be taking measures to try to mitigate the amount of damage that we get and hopefully prevent any catastrophic losses.”
So what are some of the ways they will try to combat the cold?
Zick said he will most likely spray copper hydroxide (fungicide & bactericide) to help reduce the amount of ice nucleation bacteria on any green foliage. By doing so, he can reduce the temperature in which frost damage will occur by a few degrees, which might be all he needs to protect them. “We also have a frost fan. That will keep air moving, not allowing cold air to settle in low areas and cause damage,” he said. “But it looks like this forecast is predicting steady winds of 8 to 10 miles per hour, so the fan will most likely not be used unless that changes. If we were to get a freeze event, it wouldn’t matter what you try: sprinklers, frost fans, spraying, or burning smudge pots. They all only help to reduce injury by a few degrees.”
About 90 miles south of Nimble Hill is Stony Run Winery, in Kempton, Berks County. Larry Shrawder, the owner of the 2-year-old winery, said he’s seeing a forecast of low temperatures and winds on Friday night, which could carry in some snow flurries over his approximately 60 acres of vines. “There’s not much we can do with wind. It blows the heat away. On the other hand, Saturday night there will be no wind so we can light small fires in the vineyard to create a rise of 2-3 degrees in temperature. We are using corn cobs because they burn well and are easy to handle,” he said.
He's also using two of what he called frost dragons, which are large fans with a big propane burner mounted on a tractor that are driven through the vineyards to keep the temperatures above freezing.
East of there in New Jersey, Unionville Vineyards is one of several wineries that just purchased a cold air drainage system, called Shur Farms Frost Protection by Jackrabbit. General Manager John Cifelli said his winery, nearby Alba Vineyard and William Heritage Winery – located farther south in Gloucester County – saw the equipment come in last weekend. “We didn’t think we would be using them this year,” he said, adding that his major concern is Saturday night when the wind is expected to die down.
While April overall was warm across the East, it also was marked by above-average rain and a mid-month frost. That did more damage to the grapevines south of the Mason Dixon, where some buds already had opened. Tony Wolf, the Extension specialist at Virginia Tech, wrote in a report he sent out Wednesday that “the central and southern Piedmont appeared to bear the brunt of the frost injury in April,” especially in vineyards below an elevation of 850 feet. “Chardonnay was probably the most severely impacted variety and was at or beyond E-L stage 12 (10-cm shoots, inflorescences clearly visible) on 19 April in central Virginia. In cases, 80% or more of primary shoots had been frosted.”
A look over the vines and down the hill toward Alba Vineyard's winery and tasting room in Warren County, New Jersey. It's another producer that will be busy this weekend dealing with predicted low temperatures.
Of course, there’s more fruit growing now than grapes. Strawberry season in central Pennsylvania usually starts in early to mid-June, followed by blueberries, peaches and apples. Kathy Reid, of Reid’s Orchard & Winery in Adams County, said they already have put the strawberry covers back over their berries. A frost could kill any blooms on the apple trees or damage any apples already forming. “It is a great concern for sure,” she said.
At Cassel Vineyards of Hershey, proprietor Craig Cassel said they held off pruning what he called “their last insurance canes” until last week, so about one-half of the buds are still closed. Searching for something to be cheered about in what has been a tough spring for everyone, he added, “With the COVID-19 cutting into our sales, maybe this is the natural way of scaling back production so our inventory stays fresh.”
It was last April 29 when a similar freeze hit Weathered Vineyards and Winery, in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh County. Owner Richard Woolley, a meteorologist and environmental engineer, said he and wife Dana decided then to adjust their pruning to be able to better handle a late frost. They also are planning to spray their vines and light numerous fires in some of the vineyard’s low spots.
"Step 6 [will be to] go to bed after the sun rises, then repeat each night until we are done with this crap,” he said. "We might not be able to do much at all Saturday morning, as it looks cold and windy with snow showers, so with any hope it stays near freezing. My bigger fear is Sunday morning and again Monday morning. There is a slight chance there are a few clouds around Sunday, which would help to prevent a frost, but it’s going to be a nail-biter. Monday morning could be just as bad if not worse since it’s supposed to be calm and mainly clear, and just to keep it fun we still have to get through Thursday morning next week though it’s less of a chance. Then finally we can breathe [easy].”
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