Weather woes

With growing season upon them, area farmers worry about the continuing drought and fear a repeat of last year’s late freeze.

University of Georgia climatologist David Stooksbury said there’s no way to predict whether the weather this year will be a repeat of 2007, when a late freeze in April followed a balmy March and wiped out blooms and buds.

“For those who want to be cautious, the probability of having a frost after April 23 is 10 percent,” he said for the region around Rome, Ga. In areas that generally are colder than Rome, he said, a freeze could come later.

Farmers acknowledge disastrous weather is out of their control and say they hope for the best.

“We are at the mercy of the Lord,” said Joe Washington, owner of Black Fox Farms in Cleveland, Tenn. Mr. Washington said his nursery business specializes in providing commercial landscapers with shrubsand ornamental plants.

The hard freeze last Easter devastated fruit and vegetable crops, wiped out early corn and decimated wild foods like nuts and acorns.

Norman Edwards, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension agent for Walker County, said area farmers’ production was limited. Crops such as corn had to be replanted, and farmers’ profits were crippled.

“We are certainly hoping we don’t get anything like that this year,” Mr. Edwards said about last year’s freeze. “We are still most likely going to have cool weather, and farmers plan for that.”

a frost or a freeze?

Dr. Stooksbury said there is a distinction between a frost and a freeze.

Frosts are possible if temperatures are between 29 and 32 degrees. Prolonged temperatures of 28 degrees or below constitute a freeze, Dr. Stooksbury said.

Growers usually can protect plants from a frost by covering them.

But a late freeze in March or April can be especially damaging because by that time the plants usually have begun blooming, especially after a mild period, growers said.

Last year at Wheeler’s Apple Orchard in Sequatchie County, tiny fruit already had replaced blossoms when the freeze hit. Wade Wheeler Jr. said his family’s business usually yields thousands of bushels a year. Last year, it produced about 30 bushels, he said.

Herbert Lackey, who raises beef cattle in McDonald, Tenn., said he can’t remember anything like last year’s freeze.

“It was a devastating thing. I never saw hickories go down like that,” he said about the wiped-out nut crop.

FIGHTING MOTHER NATURE

Mr. Washington said he prepared his Bradley County nursery for last year’s cold snap as much as possible by covering plants, but it was a futile effort.

“There is no way you can stop Mother Nature,” he said.

That doesn’t keeping growers from trying their best.

Mr. Wheeler said he built fires in his orchard to try to warm his trees and ward off freeze damage last year.

dealing with the drought

Most growers said the drought is their main worry.

Patty Prouty, owner of the Georgia Winery, said her business was only slightly affected by the freeze.

“We lucked out in that way,” Ms. Prouty said. “What did hurt us was the drought. We saw a significant effect. We only harvested about 25 percent (of the normal crop).”

Experts like Dr. Stooksbury said the area’s rain has not been enough to constitute a reserve.

“I’m really concerned about June through October. We have not received the recharge we needed,” he said.

The Cumberland Plateau has received much more rain and has recovered more than other areas, he said.

As growers recount last year’s weather woes, they stay positive.

“Farmers are very optimistic,” said Andrew Strike, Farm Service Agency director for Bradley and Polk counties in Tennessee.

Mr. Wheeler said dedication to his customers and heavenly help keep him going.

“You kind of get an affinity for people,” he said. “They are your customers, and you don’t want to let them down. It is a living, so we keep at it.’

ON THE WEB

* For more information about farming in Georgia, visit UGA’s extension office Web site at http://www.caes.uga.edu/extension.

* For information about frosts in Georgia, visit http://www.georgiaweather.net.

* For more information about farming in Tennessee, visit UT’s extension office Web site at http://www.utextension.utk.edu.