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There will be plenty of crunchy apples to munch on and bake with this summer on P.E.I. thanks to some “hard-working bumblebees.” But anyone looking to sink their teeth into a juicy local plum or peach may be out of luck.
In fact, Barry Balsom, the owner of Arlington Orchards in Tyne Valley, says because of unusual temperatures this winter and spring, the orchard won’t have any stone fruits available this year.
“First time in 25 years we will not be picking a plum on this farm,” Balsom said.
“We even have a variety of plum on the farm here that can be traced back to 1870 in Prince Edward Island — so it’s seen a few rough winters — and we’re not going to have a plum off that tree either.”
Part of the reason: a milder than usual January. When the temperature gets between zero to minus-10 C in early winter, the trees build up sugars in the buds that serve as antifreeze in colder weather, Balsom said.
“We didn’t get those temperatures in January. We had probably one of the most mild Januaries on record, and the sugars weren’t built up around the buds.”
So when a severe cold snap hit on Feb. 3, the sugars weren’t there to protect them.
Balsom said he remembers the stress of watching temperatures plummet that day.
“Did that help cause the damage? Probably,” he said.
The situation is similar with other growers of plums, peaches and cherries Balsom has spoken with across the Maritimes, he said.
It will mean most of the stone fruits — fruits with pits — available this summer will be imported from Ontario and the U.S., which will likely mean higher prices at the stores.
And let’s face it, they probably won’t taste as good.
“Why we grow plums and peaches is simply because of the flavour. When you pick a peach and you move it 10 feet to sell it, you can let it get a little more ripe and develop its characteristics and the flavour we all love,” Balsom said.
“We will have plums that probably come from a longer distance and they pick them green. So you know, yes, you have a plum, but the quality is not as much as what you get when you taste local.”
Challenging raspberry season
It’s also been a challenging season for raspberries.
Claude McCardle, owner of The Berry Patch in Tracadie, said that though they will be available, they won’t be as plentiful. He said he even knows one grower who decided not to open their U-pick this season.
Once again, the off-season weather was the culprit.
“We had Fiona of course, and that thrashed a lot of the canes pretty well. So that meant that this spring we had a prune a lot heavier than we would normally,” McCardle said.
Next year’s looking good if we have fewer hurricanes and fewer winter kills.— Claude McCardle
“The other thing was winter kill. This seems to be a lot of winter kill on the vines.”
The hot weather this summer has also had an effect on the raspberries that are available because the heat makes them ripen all at the same time.
That means they have to be picked and sold at the same time.
The good news: The new canes growing this year should result in a better crop in 2024, McCardle said.
“Next year is looking good if we have fewer hurricanes and fewer winter kills.”
As for the apple crop, Balsom said the unusual spring weather made pollination trickier, but it worked out in the end.
“We had a temperature here in June of 36 C, if you can imagine that,” he said. “The blooms all came out. And the next day I was lighting the stove to keep the house warm. It rained and was cold and blue for a week straight.
“Every day I’m out there looking at the bloom thinking, Is there any bees on that? And the only one I found was the hard-working bumblebees, and we had our crop pollinated.”
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