Warm Days, Cold Nights

This time of year is always interesting for fruit growers! The warm spring days have been beautiful, and the peach trees are starting to show their glorious bloom. This is the time, however, that our crop is at is most vulnerable. When the blooms are starting to open, the tiny fruit inside is exposed. When the temps get below freezing at night, the risk exists that the fruit will be exposed to too-cold temps for too long. While mother nature is in control of this situation, there are a few things we can do to try to protect our crop. We monitor temperatures in all our orchards, especially those at lower elevations (like Chiles Peach Orchard). If the wind is blowing, it is of great help. If the air is still, we'll lend our hand to Mother Nature. Last night (actually, early this morning), we started up our wind machines.These machines move the air around, and can actually raise the temperature by 2 or 3 degrees - which often is enough to make a difference. We started the machines just before dawn (the coldest time of the night is right as the sun starts to rise) and ran them for a couple of hours.

We'll continue monitoring the temperatures for the next 4-6 weeks, until all chance of frost has passed. Keep following our blog for updates! And, if you see us around town and we look tired, you will know why! You'll see from the pictures of the peach trees that they are in different stages of bloom, depending on the variety.

PS, the strawberries have covers on them, - this is protecting them for the time being.