Plum Blooms

Our Asian and American plums are in full bloom and not a good thing to be on March 26th.  With the cooler daytime temperatures we run the risk of not having enough pollinators working the flowers.  We spotted a few solitary insects in the flowers yesterday, but no honey bees.  Considering it takes 6-8 visits per flower to actually set fruit, warmer days are needed during bloom.  Tonight the temperature will drop in the mid 20s – yikes!  We plan to cover as many plum trees as physically possible along with the flowering seaberry plants.  John plans to stay up all night to monitor the temperature.  He may have to light a fire to help create a protective inversion layer of air within the orchard once we reach 27 degrees.  When things get down to 25 degrees, that is when damage can begin to occur.

I looked back through our blog posts to 2010 when we had an early spring.  Our Asian plums began blooming April 19th and we noted that this was 15 days ahead of schedule.  This puts the 2012 season into perspective!  2010 turned out to be a great long season and our melons were fantastic that year.  Perhaps, after this nail-biting week, we will cruise through a warm spring.  The alternative is not too pleasant to consider.