On the night of 28th March 2017, Arpa weather stations in Emilia Romagna registered temperatures of almost 0°C in various areas. Carpi dropped to -0.1°C, Correggio to 0.6°C and many other areas registered temperatures between 0 and 1°C. What's worrying is that cherry orchards are still in full bloom, blossoming is ending for late peach varieties and, while apricot flowers are loosing their petals, fruitlets are still full of water.
In Romagna, the risk of frost usually continues until Easter. However, we must bear in mind that damage depends on how long the temperatures actually remain below zero.
In the case of slight frost, orchards can also be protected with under-foliage irrigation. Water turning into ice generates heat, so it takes very little to raise the temperature. An orchard where the grass is tall and that can be irrigated with micro-irrigation is generally a few tenths of a degree warmer than the bare ground. In Trentino, using irrigation to protect apple blossoming is perfectly normal.
"Temperatures are expected to increase, so I'm not worried. There were just a few drops for apricots caused by the fluctuating temperatures of the past few days as, in Romagna, we went from 18°C during the day to 0-1°C in the morning. Open field strawberries can also be affected by the low temperatures, though there is no reason to worry too much," explains Luca Molinari, technician of Consorzio Agrario Adriatico (in the photo)
Molinari also feels kiwi bacterioris may be due to the temperature fluctuations during this month after a rather cold winter.
