February 26 2007, 10:13

Cold weather could have affected fruit orchards in some regions of Ukraine

The temperature drop down to the critically low levels for stone fruit orchards has been observed in the several recent nights in Ukraine. On the nights Friday to Saturday and Saturday to Sunday the temperature decreased down to -18…-20 Co in the northern and eastern oblasts of Ukraine. The temperature went down to -18…-19 Co on Saturday in Crimea; the temperature drop down to -23 Co was recorded in several rayons of Crimea.

In the oblasts, imposed to the low temperatures, some orchardists worry about the state of the fruiting buds. The Senior Agronomist of a farm in Crimea informed the Agricultural Marketing Project that he admitted the possibility of the frosts injuring the stone fruits to a certain extent. At the same time, according to his estimation, the serious damage is hardly possible. The orchardists from the other regions sound more optimistic. They should not have worried about the possible injuries but for the warm weather before the frosts. As a result, the turgent buds were exposed to a low temperature, so the certain damages are possible.