The early spring-like weather that we all enjoyed came with a penalty.
Warm temperatures in March and April pushed fruit trees and vines to get a jump start on pushing out flowers.
It was no problem until cold weather moved in with sensitive plant parts exposed. Official damage is not known yet, but there is expected to be some major losses in some Pennsylvania fruit growing regions. In other states, growers report they no longer have the potential for a commercial crop.
Columnist Tom Butzler gets ready to hive an April swarm. The picture was taken moments before the photographer was stung in the head.
Strawberry growers had some rough nights when the freezing weather descended into central Pennsylvania. Those nights when temperatures dropped below 30 degrees were spent applying overhead irrigation to protect emerging and sensitive strawberry blossoms.
We'll see how the rest of the growing season pans out and the cost for Pennsylvania and mid-Atlantic grown fruit.
The early warm-up also affected honeybees. There is an old beekeeping saying that a "swarm in May is worth a load of hay; a swarm in June is worth a silver spoon; but a swarm in July is not worth a fly." This means the earlier a swarm occurs in the growing season the more it is worth as it has a longer time period to collect nectar and pollen. Late swarms have very little chance of survival in the winter months.
What happens when the swarm occurs in April? I had a swarm occur in April in my backyard apiary. The early warm weather pushed the colony to expand rapidly and resulted in overcrowding. I tried to alleviate the situation to no avail. While playing Wiffle Ball with my kids, a loud buzzing noise emanated from the hives and a massive cloud of bees took flight to a nearby tree.
It was easily caught with the help of my daughter but not without some pain. She took a sting right in the head and made a bee-line for the house. I had another swarm on a recent Wednesday, but my daughter refused to help this time.
Bulbs in the landscape provide color during the spring months while woody plants are still stirring out of hibernation and annual flowers still are wishful thinking. But as the rest of the landscape starts to leaf-out and annuals are planted in late spring, there is that itch to do something with the spent foliage of the bulbs.
My mother used to braid the foliage after the flowers dropped off while others just take the clippers and cut off everything to the ground. Both practices are discouraged as the plant needs to build up energy for next year.
Let the foliage do its thing - photosynthesize - by capturing the sun's energy to make plant food.
After about six weeks, the foliage will start to yellow and die down. Remove it at this time.