Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Ukraine: cold spell may affect peach and apricot crops in Crimea
Thanks to rather warm weather in late March, peach and apricot trees in Crimea started blossoming about 1.5-2 weeks earlier than usual. For the present, fruit trees are blossoming in Sevastopol, Bakhchysarai and Nyzhnohirskyi Districts of Crimea.
However, Crimean growers worry about a significant decrease in temperature expected by meteorologists. According to Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center's data, temperature in Crimea may go down to 2-4 degrees below zero at night time this Friday. Such a fall will negatively affect fruit trees.
“Cold spell during budding and blossoming may have a negative impact on fruit crops”, says a grower from Crimea. “Fruits may bear a decrease in temperature to 1-2 degrees below zero. As regards flowers, they may fade at 0-2 degrees above zero. Problems with pollination may also occur, as bees simply do not fly under such weather conditions. As a result, a fall in temperature to 2-3 degrees below zero and lower may seriously affect fruit crops”.
At the same time, Crimean growers say that early blossoming will have no impact on fruit ripening terms, and harvesting of peaches and apricots will start as usual in late June.
We would remind you that Autonomous Republic of Crimea accounted for the share of 6% in Ukraine's total stonefruit production in the previous season.