Growers: frost will prevent early berries, apples, potatoes, asparagus frost

The early flowering of the shrubs heralded a bumper harvest, but frost had a very large appetite. Berry growers say the early harvest will be virtually non-existent and it is too early to tell what the late harvest will be – this weekend's weather will make a big difference: if the frosts are still coming, they will gather the last of the blossoms.

Growers say they do not notice the damage immediately after the frosts, but later. Meanwhile, cereal growers are least affected by frosts: winter crops are used to cool weather, unless the frost-averse maize that emerges can be damaged.  

Heat has set the flowers, frost has gathered them

Vice-Chairman of the Chamber of Agriculture Vytautas Buivydas says the frost has already done a lot of damage, as gardens suddenly blossomed after the extremely warm weather before Easter. 

„We have had record-breakingly hot weather, vegetation has intensified, gardens, berry patches that started to bloom earlier are now blackening – the inflorescence has gotten cold – the fruit will not mature – there will be no more harvest. Blueberry areas, apple orchards, currant orchards are damaged. Warm weather boosted the potential for a good harvest, but frosts have taken it away," Buivydas told BNS. 

Kipras Sirtautas, director of the 180-hectare Žiežmariai orchards, told BNS that more than 90 percent of apple blossoms had froze.

„All the blossoms are brown, there will be no harvest, we will not grow apples for sure,“ he told BNS. 

The yield from the remaining blossoms will be seen in about a couple of weeks, when the buds appear, Sirtautas said.

„The dwarf apple trees will be almost 100% empty, maybe there will be something in the tops of the taller trees, but... It's a very bad situation“, – he added. 

K. Sirtautas said it is impossible to protect gardens of this size from frost. 

„We prepared: we gave fertilisers to the trees to protect the blossoms, but when such frosts – several nights in a row it was almost 4 degrees, it is not possible to protect“, – the head of &dquo;Žiežmarių gardens“ told BNS.   

Farmers are reporting frost damage more actively this year than last year, the Chamber of Agriculture vice-president said. He also stresses that frosts are getting worse: „We have not yet passed the frost risk stages, and we have major breaches. We are likely to have more frosts and more consequences“.

Cereal crops are not afraid of frosts, unlike maize: if they have germinated, they may be damaged because they are not susceptible to frost, he said.

Frozen asparagus, early potatoes 

Lithuanian Vegetable Growers' Association chairman Paulius Andriejavas says the real effects are not yet visible immediately after the frosts, which have been raging most in northern Lithuania, in the Anykščiai region. 

„We are monitoring the situation, it's so far not so good, but it's too early to talk about concrete damage“, – he told BNS. 

„The asparagus is really getting cold – it will have to be disposed of, there is nothing left to pick, although the farmers who grew it have been burning it in bonfires and have taken other measures, – added Mr Andriejavas.

Rural potato growers, who do not have irrigation systems, are also feeling the bite of frost. But Mr Andriejavas says there are only a small number of early potato farms in Lithuania – you can count them on two fingers of your hand.

„Farmers are already struggling to cultivate areas that can be protected from frost, as the damage caused by frost is huge,– he said.

Some fields where beetroot and carrots have sprouted are also showing signs of frost. 

„But time will tell how this will affect whether it will come out in the rhizomes, which use up a lot of the plant's energy and cause the roots to stop growing“,– Mr. Andriejavas said. 

Cabbage, like onions, is a bit more resistant to frost.  

Growers: 20% of last year's crop will grow

Regina Regina, 21, a member of the Žymaičiai family, which grows 4 hectares of strawberries, told BNS that this year's frosts were exceptional.

„This year, frosts have occurred one morning, the next, a few times, and then again – three in a row. These are long and frequent, and therefore painful (frosts – BNS). There is nothing left of the strawberries that were not covered, and those that we covered will be, but the price will also be cosmic, – she reflected.  

Lithuanian Association of Berry Growers chairman Tautvydas Gurskas said that berry growers are being "bitten by frost" for the third year in a row. 

„All the early strawberries froze, even where they were covered with agri-film. Only the double agri-film helped. The early blueberries froze, the currants may be completely gone, except at the top of the bushes if they are taller, as all the leaves have died back 40-50 cm from the ground. The repair raspberries have completely frosted over and will have to regrow. The achtinidia froze long ago. The grape shoots have also faded," said the head of the association.

He said that the situation up to this weekend indicated that 20% of last year's harvest could be expected.  

„If there is frost the next day, there will be no harvest at all. The birds will drop. And there will be less food for them in the wild, so they will fly to the gardens," Gurskas said.

Honeysuckles were least affected by the frost, he said. The honeysuckle has leaves and underneath the leaves are hidden the buds or flowers so they don't get knocked over by frost."

T. Gurskas believes that the state should financially support growers to purchase berry protection tunnels – hoops covered with resistant film.  

„The whole future is in tunnels, because the frosts will increase as we go on, and you can grow cherries, blackberries, currants, strawberries, even grapes in tunnels," said the head of the association. 

The Hydro-meteorological Service warns of frosts of 1-6 degrees in the air at the weekend in places, with frost on the ground in many places. According to the synoptics, frosts will overtake Tauragė, Šiauliai, Klaipėda and Marijampolė counties on Saturday night, and will be all over Lithuania on Sunday.