Something happened when the calendar switched from March to April. Spring finally sprung. As we discussed in the last issue of FFF, spring temperatures are so important because the rate of crop development in the spring is directly related to how warm it is. Here in Lafayette, April average temperatures have been in the 50s and 60s (average not maximum) which has pushed along crop development. We’re currently at early tight cluster on apples and peaches are pushing along. I’d like to report the stage of peach flowering, but there’s not a flower in sight. The lowest winter temperature was -9.6 which wouldn’t usually cause extreme damage. But, that temp came after a couple of weeks in the 40s and 50s so I suspect the trees hadn’t developed much hardiness at the time the cold temperatures hit.
As you can see from the graph where this year’s data is shown in the heavy black line, we’re not particularly early or late this year, although still ahead of the long -term average.
Further south in the state, apples are between pink and full bloom.
As a reminder, this photo shows where we were a year ago.
Apple flowers at the Purdue Meigs farm after snowfall on Monday April 18, 2022.