SPARTA, Mich. — Spring deep freezes, this late in the season, are feared by all fruit growers because much of their crop is already in full bloom.
West Michigan is about to be hit with a rare, mid-May freeze, as low temperatures Friday through Sunday could drop to 25 degrees.
Local growers are scrambling to do all they can to save their crops.
75% of 'Schwallier's' apple crop is currently in peak bloom
"Every year we have to deal with some serious frost," said Phil Schwallier, who owns and operates Schwallier's Country Basket in Sparta. "But having temperatures in the middle of May dip into the twenties, that's deeply concerning."
Schwallier, who owns hundreds of acres of apple orchards throughout Kent County, has been through this before but in a much longer stretch and the result than was losing 90% of his apple crop.
"In 2012, we has 21 days in April where it was below freezing," recalls Schwallier. "We could have $300,000 of crop that can be wiped out, just like that."
Schwallier says 75% of his apple buds have reached the 'full pink' stage of their bloom, which means being exposed to freezing temperatures for extended periods of time will kill them.
"The [full pink] buds can withstand 28 degrees for 30 minutes," Schwallier says. "If the temperature goes lower than 28 degrees, we will likely sustain major crop loss."
Friday night's forecast low temperature in Grand Rapids is 26 degrees. Monday's low is forecast to be 28 degrees.
Critical spring temperatures for tree fruit bud development stages
"We have three countermeasures we use when we're facing sub-freezing weather," added Schwallier. "The don't prevent the damage, but they help minimize it."
Schwallier says the first thing he does is mow the orchard grass short.
"That way, the heat can be taken up by the bare soil, and [that heat] is given off all night," said Schwallier. "That warms the orchard maybe one or two degrees, which might be enough to escape damage."
The second action he takes is he turns on his irrigation system, which includes a trickle irrigation system and sprinklers under the apple trees to keep the soil wet.
"Moisture gives off heat." said Schwallier. "We're putting 55 degree water on the ground so that will give us heat overnight, and could buy us one or two degrees."
The final line of defense he performs is turning on his frost fans, which are giant windmill-like fans, high atop towers throughout the orchards.
"Frost fans are probably the most important thing we can do," said Schwallier. "[Frost fans] give is anywhere from a two to five degrees rise in temperature."
Schwallier says he doesn't expect to get much sleep this weekend. He'll be up all hours keeping a close eye on the temperature. When it gets close to freezing, that's when he starts the fans and the sprinklers.
"We can't wait until it's 32 degrees or everything will freeze up on us," said Schwallier. "So, if it dips to 33 or 34 degrees at 3 o'clock in the morning, I have to be awake and turning everything on."
Each morning, Schwallier says he will go out to the orchard, break off a few of the apple buds to bring inside his house, where they will thaw for three hours. After that, he'll cut them open. If the inside of the bud is brown, he knows a lot of his crop has been damaged.
"This one will be an exceptionally hard freeze," Schwallier said. "It's May; it's during peak bloom season, but we weather the storm and try to carry on."
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