Warmer Weather Not So Good for Michigan Fruit Farmers - 9&10 News

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The warm weather this early is seen as a gift to some in Northern Michigan, but for others it’s not the weather they want just yet.

The warmer temperatures have people breathing a sigh of relief, but for some area farmers, like Timothy Tubbs, they’re holding their breath.

“If it gets too cold, we could get some freeze damage. If the bugs are too far along from this warm weather this week. Hopefully things don’t move too fast, and it hopefully isn’t early the near future. We don’t have any severe cold weather also,” said Tubbs.

Living in Michigan makes it hard to predict how good the fruits of a farmer’s labor will be.

“Last year, we had a fantastic crop. Things were really good. Couple of years ago, it wasn’t quite so we weren’t quite so fortunate. We had had some frost damage. You just got to fight Mother Nature and hope that she’s kind to us,” said Tubbs.

Tubbs said there are things he can do to minimize damage if that happens but for the most part, it’s out of his hands. Still, he is cautiously optimistic.

“Things are looking good right now. Southern Michigan might be a little bit further ahead of us. So, they might be a little bit more critical stage if we haven’t got some super cold weather in the next week or two,” said Tubbs.

Experts at the MSU Extension seem to agree with that assessment. They said a few days in the 70′s shouldn’t do too much damage.

Emily Lavely, a tree fruit educator at the MSU Extension Office out of Ocean County said you need to have consistently warm weather with freezing conditions following for it to decimate crops.

“So even though the trees are starting to change, and the buds are starting to change for some early varieties, they can still tolerate temperatures that are into the mid to low 20s at this stage. So, we’re not concerned yet about losing fruit buds or possible damage for our crop,” said Lavely.

Lavely also said they originally thought the weather was going to be warmer last month, but luckily things cooled down, keeping trees dormant.

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