US (VA): Freeze costly but farmers still expect berries this season

With the freezing temperatures last week many farmers suffered extensive damage to their strawberry crops. While there is plenty of bad news, according to some farmers, there should still be plenty of berries come harvest time.

Farmers that covered their plants during the likely frost saw less damage than those who did nothing. But even growers who sprayed their plants with water in the hopes of protecting them with ice suffered losses because of the high winds.

Hickory Ridge Farm owner Robin Pierce said they lost about 60 percent of their blooms.

“The big factor was the wind,” she said. “The wind caused us to not be able to cover the plants sufficiently with water. That’s why we lost the amount we did.”

Pungo’s Barbara Henley covered most of the plants at Henley Farms and is confident they will do fine when the weather starts to warm.

“Most of these plants will recover when it warms up and they’ll go into their normal growing season,” Virginia Beach agent Roy Flanagan said. “The thing is, if we were looking at a better than average season, it just got knocked down to an average season.”

source: pilotonline.com