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Southwest Michigan fruit crops took a winter beating
Polar vortex conditions are expected to cause significant damage to Southwest Michigan fruit crops.
Mark Longstroth with Michigan State University Extension tells Brownfield this year has been comparable to the winters of 2014 and 2015 which also had extreme cold events.
“Typically that might happen every 10 or 20 years and it’s unusual that we’ve seen that happen three of the last five years.”
He says polar air moving across Michigan on Martin Luther King Day as well as January 30th and 31st is expected to cause catastrophic losses to grapes and peaches but the extent of damage in fruit trees won’t be known for a few more weeks.
“If the tree was weak going into the winter, it might suffer some winter injury, and we’re also concerned about young trees that have a trunk that’s an inch to two-and-a-half or three inches in diameter.”
Longstroth says the more normal spring conditions this March with the slow, cool start has been good for crops. West and Northwest Michigan fruit crops are not expected to see as much winter damage.
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