A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Fruit Forum How Do I Know??

Okay, as I'm sure everybody knows...the East Coast had a major cold period this last week.

I have a peach tree & 2 Fruit Cocktail trees which were starting to bloom when I left for Florida a week & 1/2 ago. Didn't get back til late Sunday, which means I missed the snow and most of the cold weather. Also means I wasn't here to protect my trees...

My question is, how can I tell if my trees were affected by the cold? They are still in full bloom. Some of them look a bit withered, but I would expect that after almost 2 weeks on the tree. None have fallen off or turned black, so is there any indication to look for? The farmers are all complaining that they have lost a big part of their crop.

We're still in the 20s at night, 40s during the day, so far this week.

Any thoughts would be welcome. Thanks!

in salisbury, you might have been fortunate enough to have the trees in a "micro climate" where the damage was minimal. 'cause surely within this week, you will have lots of drop/browning if you have much loss.

Thanks, Jiffy - eased my mind a bit! I'll keep an eye on them, hopefully they'll make it...DH would be pretty upset if there's no fruit. (peach was mother's day gift, cocktails were "his" idea - after a lot of "oh, I'd love to have some of those...")

Are they mature trees that you got? some fruit trees have to be several years old before they produce fruit.

Also you may still have an oportunity to cover your trees. The weather reports I've heard say there will be another cold front next week. Just what you wanted to hear right?

I haven't figured out what I'm going to do about that one yet.

I'm figuring, there's been enough cold for me. The trees are on their own, they seem to have done well enough while I was gone!

The peach fruited last year, but since I planted after it already set the fruit most of it fell off from the shock. I got 2 peaches. The nursery guy said the cocktails fruited last year, but we didn't get them til fall so I don't know if he was right or not.

The times on the forum are driving me nuts!!! (test:it's 9:06)