VALE, N.C. — The warmer weather during February caused many of the peach orchards to bloom early across the foothills, and frigid temperatures expected this weekend have farmers on edge.
They are trying to keep this year's crop from being ruined.
Peach trees bloomed early in Vale and temperatures are expected to fall Saturday morning into the
mid-20s.
"(I'm) saying prayers," peach grower Alan Davis said at his farm.
Another grower said the temperature drop could kill off blooms and damage the peach crop this year.
Farmers hope that if there is only one morning of very cold weather, it won't be nearly as bad as last year, when they saw a late freeze over several days.
"We've been colder and have had a full crop, and we've been warmer and gotten frozen out, so there's a lot of factors there that can cause things," grower Alan Davis said.
Davis said it usually takes a couple of days after a freeze before he knows the extent of the damage.
He expects to be out early Monday morning walking through the orchard to look at the blooms up close.
Only 20 percent of the trees have bloomed so far.
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