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John King’s Spring Blossom Update

Montmorency tart cherries in Northern Michigan at King OrchardsSpring Blossom Update

It is hard to keep our readers up to date on the spring blossoms since it moves so quickly, but here is our update as of now.

Apricots were the first to open, which is typical. They are already past their prime and dropping petals.

Sweet cherries have been opening slowly for a week or so. The cold weather has slowed the bloom so some blossoms will be in petal fall even as other are still opening over the next few days. There will be some white blossoms still over the weekend.

Peaches; Our varieties have small, nondescript flowers that will be open over the weekend.

Nectarines; Pretty pink bloom! These will be opening today and should be good through the weekend but we don’t have many trees.

Tart cherries are not open but I expect good blossoms maybe Friday-Sunday. These are a great variety to see in Northern Michigan and at King Orchards since they are planted in big blocks.

Apples are last and probably will start over the weekend and be strong next week.

Frost Update

We ran our wind machines Sunday and Monday night (these wind machine towers help to mix warmer air up high with cooler air down low to increase the temperature). We did get down to 26.5F in some low spots. At this point, I think damage is limited to some early sweets, early strawberries, and apricots. I can’t tell yet, but I think we are still on track for a very nice crop of everything. However, the asparagus froze out for this picking. We mowed the damaged stalks yesterday and we expect to grow the next batch by Sunday or Monday.