Frosts damaged part of Ukraine’s harvest of early apples and stone fruits

As a result of the latest frosts in Ukraine, the peak of which occurred on April 19-20 of this year, orchards of apples, pears and stone fruits were partially damaged, EastFruit analysts report. At the same time, according to local growers, the most damage to apple orchards was caused by unfavorable weather conditions in the Vinnytsia region, indeed where the main apple areas are concentrated.

Some farms reported possible losses of more than half of the future apple harvest, but in most cases this only concerned early and medium apple varieties, such as Melbourne, Geneva, etc. Regarding winter apple varieties, growers were more restrained in their harvest forecasts and reported that they hoped that the frosts did not have a significant impact on the production outlook. It should also be noted that the maximum damage on farms was recorded precisely in the lower reaches, where cold air accumulated and was retained at night. In such places, temperatures reached -3 °C and below.

In other regions of Ukraine minor frost damage on April 19-20 was also noted in the Chernivtsi, where local growers estimated losses of the future harvest of apples at 10-15%. At the same time, damage to plantings was recorded as localized – exclusively in the lower reaches. In turn, fruit producers in other regions of the country reported no losses in the future apple harvest, and night temperatures there over the last weekend were not so critical.

Read also: Blueberries in Ukraine will not suffer from possible frosts – expert opinion

Farmers in the Mykolaiv region reported a possible loss of harvest of early varieties of cherries, and growers in the Chernivtsi region fear that they will not harvest all the planned volumes of apricots.

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Photo by Oleksandr Bikovsky from Facebook