HEAVY FROST

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 3, 27 September 1937, Page 6

HEAVY FROST

Seven and a-half Degrees Recorded

FIRES IN ORCHARDS

A frost of seven and a-half degrees, the heaviest to dat-e this season, was exj)erienced in and around Hastings overnight. Tlianks to precautious taken by orckardists, very little damage, apparently, was done to the fruit trees though early varieties of stone fruits in a few isolated cases were visibly affecteci in places. The break in the weather yesterday, with the cold southerly wind in tho morning and its disappearance altogether in the late afternoon, afforded truit-growers ample vvarning of the likelihood oi a irost, and they made the necessary preparations for the lighting of tiie fire-pots and other precaitionary measures. From midnight on the sky save ample evidence that orchardists were tending to their trees, for the reiiection of tbe fires was visible for iniles. There was also a slight haze, the result oi' smokc from the oil-burners that a good many of the orchardists were uslng, Many orchardists report tliat they had rather a difficult task in raising the temperature. While apples wouid not in the least be affected by the frost at tbis stagie oi' the season, growers of stone fruits, especially plums, were compeiled to safeguard their interests and tend to tbe lighting of fires from midnight on. "I'm perfectly certain that if I had not been up looking after tbe fires this morning there Would have been considerable damage to the stone fruit," commented one grower in the Riverslea distriet. A Hastings West orchardist endorsed this opinion. He said that there would have been a "fair bit of damage" done but for the fires lit in his area, where the reading was five degrees. The dangerous period was from about 2.30 o'clock, tbough along the watershed of the old Ngaruroro riverbed orchardists were busy tending their fires from midnight. Critical Stage for Plums. "Apples aro not in any danger at present, and peacbes really are not in the critical stage, unless they are of the very' earliest variety and rather more forward in their growth than i» usual at this time of the yedr, but for plums, tbe present is a very critical stage," said one authority. "I have not the slightesti doubt chat where growers of plums did not have hres in their orchards — and I doubt if there are any who did not — tlie damage would be f'airly, if not very, heavy in the low-lying districts " Reports from Twyford and Pakowhai indicate that there was only a very slight touch of frost and not sufficiwt. to warrant the use of fires, or to cause any alarm. The worst areas appeared to have been near the old Ngaruroro riverbed and towarda the south of Hastings That a certain amount of damage has been done, particularly to Japaneso and other early-blossoming varieties of plums, by tbis morning' s frost, was aseertained by Mr N. J. Adamson, Government Orchard Instructor, as tbe result ot a tour of the distriet. The damage was mainly-. in the most exposed areas to the east and south of Hastings, but where fires had beeu lit good savcs had been made. "I found in places that the etfact of the frost on the peaches, even the early varieties, was not great," he sai.l "The eflect was really only a bit of a thiiiuing and would probably not mattrially reduce the crop. However, should there be further heavy frosts, the cumulative effect is likely to make serious inroads into the crop. "There was quite a bit of damage done to the early varieties of plums. and also to nectarines in the exposed areas, but for all that I anticipate that there will be a moderate crop obtained from these trees," he said. "Certainly the effect of the frost is more pronounced on\ these trees than on the peaches, and any further damage will reduce the crop very considerably indeed, and possibly make it an unpayable oue. "Where the growers had their fires going they made good saves,'' bo added. "Tbe greater part of the damage, as far as I could ascertain, was done in those orcliards wliere the trees were exposed and no fires were lit. For the most part, however, there is no cause for alarm at present, as there has been a very heavy setting of blossom this season on the trees, and the effect of the frosts to date amounts only to rather severe thinning. Still, tliere will not need to be many more heavy frosts if the growers are to enjoy their anticipated bountiful season."