Apples and peaches face ‘complete wipeout’ in Winchester after severe freeze

The harsh winter got in one last jab at Winchester, Virginia, on its way out.

That’s bad news for the region’s apple, peach and cherry crops.

Temperatures in Winchester dipped much lower than expected overnight on April 8, and “the level of damage we are seeing is unlike anything I’ve observed in apples over the past eight years at Virginia Tech,” Dr. Sherif M. Sherif, an associate professor of horticulture, wrote in a blog post.

According to Sherif’s measurements, lows ranged from 19.5° F to 24° F.

Several variants of apple tree had flowers already blooming, in part thanks to recent warm temperatures this spring. Those delicate blossoms, much like the cherry blossoms, are affected by cold temperatures.

If the blossoms die because of the cold, that means the tree is much less likely to provide fruit later in the season. And according to Sherif, the Pink Lady, Gala and Honeycrisp apple trees experienced “a near-complete crop loss.”

All of the Pink Lady and Honeycrisp blooms were killed by the frost, while only 2% of the Gala apple blooms survived.

“When dissected, both king and side blooms were brown and water-soaked, and entire clusters appeared ‘roasted,” Sherif said.

Peach trees faced a similar fate, with frost killing all SunHigh variant blossoms and sparing only 2% of the Redhaven variant blooms.

Cherry trees fared the best in Winchester, with only 56% damage.

“In practical terms, this represents a complete wipeout for apples and peaches in many Winchester-area blocks,” Sherif said.

Other areas of Virginia, with less severe freezes, may have faced less crop devastation.

There’s a thin hope for the apples and peaches, according to Sherif, because some of those variants have a slim chance of producing more flowers later in the season, which could lead to a few apples.

But “any surviving bloom is likely to contribute only a small fraction of a normal crop,” Sherif said.