HENDERSONVILLE (AP) — The colder than usual winter may have helped save the apple crop in western North Carolina.
Officials say the crop appears to have avoided serious damage when temperatures dropped into the 20s.
Agriculture experts say the colder weather this winter meant that apple blooms were not as far along as they were two years ago, when an April cold snap devastated the crop.
County Extension Director Marvin Owings Jr. said Thursday growers appeared to be in pretty good shape. But he says it’s still too early to determine what a frost Wednesday night might have done.
Farmer Cotton Dalton has an orchard on Sugarloaf Mountain and said he was surprised that his apples did not suffer more damage. He said it was 25 degrees on his farm Wednesday morning.