Update from Farm Owner, Josh Morgenthau:

The last month and a half has been a roller coaster for us (and orchards across the northeast). Since the night of April 21, when the farm’s fruit trees were plunged– mid-bloom– into below freezing temperatures, we’ve learned the following: our apple and berry crops, while suffering significant damage, have thankfully pulled through, if a little worse for wear. We are hoping for a good harvest season. Our other fruit crops – cherries, peaches, nectarines, and pears – have unfortunately been largely obliterated for the year. Below I’ve outlined a bit more about how the crops fared that night and in the following weeks (and some of the science behind it).

The arctic blast followed a string of brutally hot days that occurred April 14-16, when temperatures reached above 90°F and pushed all our fruit trees through three weeks worth of bud development in as many days. The whiplash for the tender new buds of going from 90F to below 25F set the stage for the severity of the damage.

We emerged from the frost event on April 21 feeling modestly confident. The temperatures were way worse than predicted. But, having run helicopters for frost protection mainly on the low lying crops— including our organic apples, cider apples and pears— it appeared the efforts paid off and kept those spots at around 25F. We narrowly avoided the drop to 23F (which occurred in spots outside of our coverage zone). The wipeout at that lower temp would have been total. At 25F, though, we should have lost a significant amount of our pear crop, but not the whole thing. Meanwhile, the higher spots on the farm should have fared much better: they supposedly never dropped much below 28F and were predicted to suffer only marginal damage. Therefore, coming out of the frost event, we expected heavy losses in the low lands but a good crop in the high areas. The results that unfolded are not nearly as straightforward nor as encouraging.

In the days after a frost, a sense of the damage isn’t clear at once, but instead gradually develops. The most frozen fruitlets turn yellow, indicating they will drop soon. The areas that were completely wiped out are apparent fairly quickly, within the first week.

Our pears, despite usually being fairly cold tolerant, were completely decimated. The trees are healthy, but they will not produce fruit again until 2027. Unfortunately, it has become evident that some of the worst damage this year occurred in our highest elevation orchards, where our stone fruit is planted. We just didn’t have the temperature inversion we needed for the high ground to be the advantage it usually is. So, in addition to the pears, in the weeks that followed we saw the bloom of a potentially bountiful cherry crop turn brown and scatter to the wind. All the peaches and nectarines were lost too, with the exception of a few types of donut peaches that managed to hold on and are (fingers crossed) sizing up.

During the weeks after a bloom-time freeze, the remaining fruitlets began sizing up (from pea to marble-size), indicating they survived– alive but damaged. The nascent seeds in the developing fruitlets usually release plant hormones called gibberellins telling the tree to hold onto the fruit. Those tiny seeds, called ovules, are also the most sensitive-to-frost part of the plant. When damaged, they stop releasing gibberellins. Without that signal to keep growing the fruit, the tree will abort it, and it will drop to the ground. This process can take up to a month.

In this case, it did. As a matter of fact, the fruitlets and trees exhibited such stress and shock that they paused growing for a few weeks. By early May, if you walked into our orchard, you couldn’t really tell that any time had passed. And by mid May, in a reversal from the norm, northern Hudson Valley apples were reportedly larger than those in the south. The southern apples experienced a greater shock, and so took longer to get back on track.

Following a freeze, a fruit-grower can cut into the remaining buds  to see whether they are green or brown inside – often the color is debatable– thus predicting whether the remaining fruit will hold or drop. This proves to be a depressing effort in years like this. A tree with a good bloom produces up to 20x the flowers it needs to set a full fruit crop. So you can cut 19 buds and find them all brown, yet there may still be enough fruit for a half-decent crop. Moderate damage and complete loss appear pretty similar. After a few days of bud-cutting in our orchard, it was clear that the damage was worse than it has been in the 20 years I’ve been paying attention. But it was hard to say just how bad.

Over time, some reassuring bright spots emerged. While the earliest blooming varieties – Gingergold, Pink Lady, Mutsu, Red Delicious– were lost completely, other apple blocks did much better. Our certified organic varieties pulled through and will set a crop. Gala, Spartan, and Rome and a handful of other varieties all have enough fruit to produce a full crop as well. In the end, while our apples are diminished, with some luck we will have enough fruit for a festive fall harvest season.

Also encouraging? The strawberry and blueberry crops, both of which look quite good. Raspberries and blackberries will have fruit, but quite a bit less. Nothing is set in stone until harvest time. But we are crossing our fingers and working hard to shepherd the surviving fruit crops to maturity. 

This is a year when local orchards need all the support we can get. Keeping the trees maintained, the lights on and our staff fully employed will not be easy, especially coming after 2025, itself a so-so fruit year. 

Crop insurance will provide some modest relief. But only for the commercial wholesale value of the fruit– so cents on the dollar compared to the actual economic loss. Encouragingly, Governor Hochul has just requested a disaster declaration for the Northeast fruit farms affected by the freeze. If the USDA grants one, it would open up low-interest loans which would provide critical bridge funding for fruit farms like us through what’s shaping up to be a historically difficult year. As Commissioner Ball said when he visited ours and other farms a few weeks ago, “It’s too soon for fruit farmers to be looking to next year”. Yet here we are, looking to 2027 with hope for a bounty. 

We are also making the most of what we have this season: a wonderful crop of vegetables and flowers coming along, a raft of fun summer events, bottling some of the best hard cider we’ve ever made, and an exciting new lunch program in the works. We hope you’ll come out and support our farm, and others in any way you can.

June 4, 2026