A late-season frost in the early hours late last week has affected some western Massachusetts fruit farmers hard. The freeze occurred as apple trees were blooming or just past bloom and the tiny, tender fruits were starting to develop.
According to University of Massachusetts Amherst extension educator Jon Clements, apple growers are still assessing the damage. "I don't want to be too, too bleak because we just kind of have to wait and see," Clements said. "I'm pretty sure there will be apples. It's just not going to be a full crop."
Clements estimates about a third of the apple crop was destroyed state wide. The freeze to apple trees comes after most of the peach crop in Massachusetts was wiped out in February, when unseasonably warm temperatures dropped to well below zero.
Source: ctpublic.org