Temperatures are expected to drop below freezing, Monday night.
Temperatures are expected to drop below freezing Monday night into Tuesday morning. That's normally not a big deal for Ohio's fruit farmers, but the mild winter has trees running about three weeks early.
"We've got peaches, and nectarines and plumbs that are in pedal fall so they've already bloomed, they're just a little beyond bloom," said Steve Hirsch, co-owner of Hirsch Fruit Farm on State Route 772. "The apples are starting to bloom so we've got about half the apples in bloom and the others are getting ready to open."
But frigid temperatures could kill off those blossoms and if it does the crop will be gone.
"They only bloom once a year so this is the bloom. There isn't going to be a second bloom."
Advisories are up from Michigan to New Jersey, prime growing states for fruit like apples. If the crop is wiped out it would mean Hirsch would need to look to other producers to buy fruit to keep his shop going.
"I'm not real good at economics, but usually if there's a lower supply and greater demand the price is going to go up," he said.
Farmers can use things like sprays of water, giant windmills, and even propane heaters to try and keep the trees from freezing. Hirsch doesn't have any of those options and is hoping the higher elevation of his orchard will save him.
"Little bit concerned with the weather forecast for tonight and tomorrow morning."
If temperatures dip to the freezing mark of 32 he says it will kill a few of the blossoms. Every degree below that increases the kill-rate.
Fruit farmers aren't out of the woods yet either. Hirsch says they normally worry about freezing temperatures through April.
"We're not sure what we have to look forward to the next three weeks," he said.
