Mar 1, 2012

Snowfall thrills local fruit farms

If local apple growers controlled the weather, they’d tell it to chill out. And Wednesday, they got their wish.

Michael Fargione, a fruit education expert with the Cornell Cooperative Extension, said the snowfall was a "wonderful gift" to apple growers.

The blanket of snow, he explained, will help slow the process that has had local growers worried, namely that the unseasonably warm weather could cause fruit tree buds to open early, only to risk being struck and damaged by a frost. Such a frost is possible in the region until mid-May, so the longer the trees can remain dormant, the less exposure they risk. Times Herald-Record

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