We’re still in May and already it’s been a very challenging year for many growers. Freezing temperatures blanketed much of the state April 15-17 and again more recently on May 9. Damage ranges from moderate to extreme. Even a week after the most recent freeze, damage is still not obvious unless you cut fruit. Fruit cut today (May 19) from the Purdue farm in Lafayette, shows extreme damage (Figure 1). The upper part of this figure shows four fruitlets of Pixie Crunch. The two on the left show some yellowing of the fruit stem indicating these fruit will drop. The two fruitlets on the right have green stems and look ok, at least from the outside. The bottom part of the figure shows the same four fruitlets, cut longitudinally with a pocket knife. The browning and death of tissues around the seeds is obvious, so the fruit will drop. It’s interesting that even with this level of damage, after 9 days there is little indication of the extent of damage from the outside. So the message is clear. Be very careful assessing freeze damage. Fruit need to be cut to determine the extent of the problem, because looking externally really gives no idea how much damage has occurred. Growers need to determine the amount of live fruitlets to make sensible thinning decisions. My guess is that many growers will come to the conclusion that the weather did all the thinning they need, and then some, and so they will decide not to apply chemical thinners this year.
Figure 1. Pixie Crunch fruitlets, intact (above) and cut longitudinally (below). These are the same fruitlets in both photos.