SOUTHWICK, Mass. (WWLP) – We won’t be seeing any locally grown peaches this season, and they’re having the same problem up and down the entire East Coast.
You can thank the crazy winter we just had. Apparently, the peach trees thought it was spring and started bearing fruit after the above average temperatures we saw in January. That didn’t last long after February’s freezing temperatures killed the buds. The result is 100 percent devastation of the buds on the peach trees.
The trees are bare at Calabrese Farms in Southwick.
“You walk through the orchard April 27th, April 28th this is the prime time for blooming peaches I walked through there 2 times in 3 days and I didn’t see a flower in the whole orchard and there’s 6 acres of peaches,” said Tom Calabrese, owner of Calabrese Farms.
Peaches are picked until July but don’t expect them this season. This will certainly hurt local growers.
After such a warm winter followed by a freeze, there are also losses in the apple crop.
