Apricot Blooming and Snow is Coming!

Q. My neighbor with an apricot tree is concerned about the forecast of snow. She said her tree is in full bloom and was worried about the forecast of snow later in the week. Any advice?

A. There is nothing that can be done to lower the freezing temperature. The most susceptible parts of fruit trees to freezing temperatures are the flowers when they are fully open. Generally, open flowers can tolerate temperatures to freezing and nothing below that when they are fully open.

            Very young fruit and unopened flowers can handle temperatures slightly below freezing, only a couple of degrees lower, and then they are damaged or die. Commercially, sprinklers apply water to fruit if air temperatures dip slightly below freezing. Ice formation on the fruit acts as an insulator. But not for the flowers.

            A couple of days after freezing temperatures have passed, squeeze the base of the flower and see if there was fruit set or not. If you can feel a small swelling at the base of the flower, then the flower and future fruit made it through the freeze. If it feels flat and there is no bump at the base of the flower, then it didn't make it.

            The second whammy was the cold weather preceding the freeze. Honeybees were not very active because of cold temperatures and overcast skies. If there are no honeybees visiting the flowers, then there'll be no pollination and no fruit produced.

            I put a short YouTube video together demonstrating how to squeeze the flowers to check if there is fruit or not. It’s available on my Xtremehorticulture YouTube channel. Otherwise, just wait and you will eventually find out.