We had freezing temperatures again last night into this morning. It wasn't as wide spread and we did not reach the duration or temperature minimums we saw on Monday morning. If there is additional damage it should show up by mid morning and into the early afternoon today.
I looked at a good chunk of central Cumberland County yesterday and we are seeing significant damage throughout the region.
I did see some fields with open white flower, with pollinators active in the field. I also smelled blueberry bloom in a couple of fields which was encouraging. However, some damage was still evident in these fields.
It is very difficult to determine the full extent of the damage at this point. I am still unsure if flowers that were pollinated before the frost event are still viable, in many of the fields I have looked at. We should begin to see much of the impact over the next two weeks.
A decision to protect the crop against further disease, needs to be made on a field by field basis. Growers need to be confident there is still a good yield potential before considering a treatment, to justify the cost of treatment and application. I wish I could be more definitive but we are in uncharted territory.
