April 17, 2015
CapitalPress.com
15
Early apple tree bloom record set
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
WENATCHEE, Wash. —
A new record has been set in
Wenatchee apple lore.
Red Delicious apple trees
reached full bloom April 9,
two days earlier and 81 years
later than the previous record
of April 11, 1934.
“This is full bloom today.
It clearly beat the old record,”
said Tim Smith, Washington
State University Extension
tree fruit specialist emeritus.
He was verifying computer
modeling of blossom degrees
by examining king blossoms on
three Red Delicious trees at the
WSU Tree Fruit Research and
Extension Center in Wenatchee.
“It’s the moderate tempera-
tures in late winter that wake
the tree up. Over 50 degrees is
especially important,” he said.
Early bloom means longer
susceptibility to crop-damag-
ing frosts and freezes. While
freezing temperatures have
been reached several morn-
ings, Smith said he hasn’t hear
of any damage.
Fans and water have been
used to protect against frost
some mornings but there’s
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from Pasco to Mattawa, said
David Douglas, president of
Douglas Fruit Co., Pasco.
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damage from last November’s
freeze that struck the hardest in
The Dalles, Ore., Smith said.
The computer modeling is
an accumulation of highs above
43 degrees since Jan. 1. Tem-
peratures above 43 drive bloom.
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computer modeling forecast
and declares full bloom when
60 percent of king blossoms,
the tip blossoms of clusters,
on the north sides of the three
trees are fully open.
Modeling began in the
1960s, but prior to that earlier
Red Delicious trees on the same
site were used to determine full
bloom beginning in 1922.
It remains the standard by
which growers estimate bloom
of all varieties of fruit trees in the
Wenatchee area and determine
timing of pesticides, chemical
thinning and placement of bee
hives for pollination.
Full bloom normally oc-
curs about April 27. The latest
was May 16, 1922.
WSU will launch a new
tree fruit website soon that will
give growers up-to-date mod-
eling of bloom dates of many
cultivars throughout the state.
As usual, bloom in the Tri-Cit-
ies is a couple of weeks ahead of
Wenatchee, Smith said. Overall
timing is compressed with recent
cooling creating more overlap
of cherry, pear and apple bloom
than normal, he said.
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warm month in Washington out
of the last nine months, said Nic
Loyd, meteorologist at WSU
AgWeatherNet in Prosser.
Several all-time March
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
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highs were set on March 27 in-
cluding 80 degrees at Wapato
and 72 at Pullman, he said.
A semi-permanent ridge of
high pressure has persisted near
Washington like something
from another world and the
state’s long-range outlook is fa-
vors warm and perhaps dry con-
ditions into early 2016, he said.
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