The apple season is winding down in New York’s Finger Lakes Region and growers might find less fruit than usual this year. How come? A warm spell in the early spring lured fruit trees out of their winter dormancy. Then, on May 18, temperatures plunged into the mid-20s, killing blossoms and baby fruit.
Autumn Stoscheck and her husband, owners of Eve’s Cidery, grow more than 50 varieties of apples. However, she says this year’s late frost was extreme. But as the climate warms, fruit trees often blossom earlier than they used to. “We lost 100% of our crop, for all intents and purposes. And then even the normal level of frost and freeze is too much because they’re too far developed. … And they don’t come back. You don’t get another chance ‘til the next year.”
Stoscheck even had to buy other growers’ apples to make cider this year.
Source: yaleclimateconnections.org
