February frosts in Ukraine damaged stone fruit orchards
22 February 02:04
Severe frosts in Ukraine in the first half of February damaged stone fruit trees in some regions of Ukraine, according to "Komersant Ukrainian", citing EastFruit.
This was reported in an article in the magazine “Gardening in Ukrainian” by Alik Ryabiy, owner of ROST-R LLC (Chernivtsi region).
“My colleagues told me that up to 90% of trees were damaged in some orchards in the Vinnytsia region,” he said. “Branches, thin growths, and even trunks were damaged. The symptoms began to appear during the thaw that followed the frost—small shoots immediately turned black. Moreover, it was not so much pome fruits as stone fruits, cherries, and apricots that were affected. Last year, the frost destroyed the flowers, but this year it destroyed even the buds.”
Last season, there was a lot of rain during the growing season from summer to late autumn. Probably, the trees had too much moisture and heat, which caused them to continue active sap flow in winter and enter the dormant phase poorly, Ryaby named as a possible cause of the phenomenon.
“When we checked the buds and shoots of all crops in January, they were green and ‘alive’ under the bark, although usually by November the fruiting branches are hard and dry,” said the gardener. “The roots also remained active and drove sap flow. As a result, when severe frosts occurred, they hit the trees that had not gone into hibernation properly and damaged them.”
