Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 14, 1990                   TAG: 9004130510
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: FLOYD                                LENGTH: Medium

CHILLY NIGHTS NIP SOME FRUIT IN THE BUD

The temperature dipped to 25 degrees in Roanoke and below 20 in parts of Floyd County, a record for April. Severe damage to the fruit trees resulted because they had bloomed two to three weeks early after the record warmth of mid-March.

Elsewhere, the results have not been as drastic and most growers are hopeful a full crop can be harvested if there are no more severe frosts.

"We've pretty much lost the peaches," said Dave Gardner, the Floyd County extension agent. "And the apple buds don't look good at this time. We still have about 10 percent left. I'm just not certain right now."

The county's largest growers, Will and Chip King of Bent Mountain, have been particularly hard hit. Will King said the brothers have lost all of their peaches, pears and nectarines.

They still have half of the apples in their main orchard in Floyd County, but have lost 80 to 90 percent of the apples in the upper orchard on Bent Mountain.

"It started a couple of weeks ago, [when frost] killed part of them," said King. "Then this past weekend did more damage to the trees. I really don't think anyone will have much fruit this year. The weather has had too much variation. It's gone from one extreme to another. I don't think the fruit will be very good."

"At this point, we do have severe injury to the peach blossoms. There is certainly less than a full crop," said Richard Marini, fruit specialist for the Virginia Tech Extension Service.

He said there should be at least 80 percent, if not a full crop, of apples. About 90 to 95 percent of the blossoms were killed, but apple trees produce many blossoms.

"There can be a 90 percent kill and still have a pretty decent crop," he said.

Marini said his optimistic perspective came from finding live buds on the trees when checking the orchards and because most people - himself included - tend to overestimate crop damage.

About the only other area with fruit damage was Roanoke County.

"This was about the fourth or fifth time nature trimmed the peaches," Extension Agent Lowell Gobble said. "This last time it killed some peaches that had survived the first few frosts."

Gobble said the apple crop was not hurt nearly as much because apples bloom later than peaches.

No significant damage has been reported in Giles, Pulaski, Montgomery and Patrick counties.