Due to a few technical difficulties our website was not “up and running” for quite some time. An update has been long overdue. Since that last post the orchard has progressed from dormancy to bloom.
We have moved through pruning clean-up, the growth stages of the trees which were silver tip, green tip, tight cluster, pink and now we are in bloom. The bees were brought into the orchard about a week ago. Not having enough hives ourselves, we borrow hives from a local beekeeper. It’s a win-win situation as the bees pollinate the blossoms for us and the beekeeper gets the honey. Full bloom is expected for the majority of the apple trees by this Friday. Our peaches were in full bloom on the 6th of April. Things are moving forward.
So far so good with the weather conditions. We did experience a very cold front about two weeks ago with morning temperatures dropping to 18 degrees. However, we haven’t been able to determine how much or if any damage was done to the buds at that time. We’ve been checking but a more accurate assessment can be made after petal fall. Any temperature dips below freezing at this point would not be welcome. Judging from the extended forecasts for our area, we are expecting a long bloom period with favorable daytime temperatures in the 70 degree range. This is excellent pollinating weather. At this point we continue to just keep our fingers crossed.