Frost = Bad News

In the early mornings of May 10th and 11th the area experienced isolated patches of fairly severe frost. In the spring, during the early stages of fruit development, frost can cause catastrophic damage with the potential to completely eliminate that years yield. Any temperatures below freezing are dangerous, anything below 30 degrees Fahrenheit is considered killing levels and temperatures below 25 will almost always result in complete loss. The morning of May 11th dipped to 27 degrees from ~4:30 to 5:30am.

While we do have several forms of frost prevention, all are very labor and cost-intensive and none guarantee 100% protection. Unfortunately we were caught completely off guard by the first frost and have suffered substantial damage. We are not completely wiped out, but at this point in time we're estimating that at least 50% of our apple crop is damaged beyond saving. Fortunately, the frost was avoided in our warmer plots, so we do still plan on doing Pick-Your-Own this fall, as well as picking all the orchards that did dodge mother nature's bullet.

As for other fruits, it is still too soon to tell the exact extent of the the damage, but we are fairly sure that nearly 100% of the early varieties of strawberries (e.g. "Early Glow", "Jewel", etc.) were destroyed. This means that the season will be delayed until at least mid-June when we hope the later varieties that have survived will be ready. While it's hard to be certain, it seems like the cherries handled the cold better than anything else, but it will take some time to be sure.

We realize that many of you eagerly await Dressel Strawberries and we'd like you to know that we are just as disappointed as you are with the situation and we are still doing everything we can to bring you the highest quality fruit possible.

We thank you for your understanding and encourage you to continue to check this blog, as well as our Facebook page, for up-to-the-minute information and status updates.