UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Cool, wet, foggy and windy -- this spring has been bad news across Pennsylvania -- unless you are a plant. Fruit trees, in particular, seem to be growing extremely well, according to an expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, who predicts a bumper crop this summer and fall.

As miserable as the weather has been for people, there have been no late frosts and conditions have been just warm and dry enough for fruit crops to get a good start. The only factor that may hold back fruit yields this year will be last year's drought, according to horticulture professor Robert Crassweller.

"We have seen some effects of drought last year -- we haven't had the dense 'snowball' blooms we get occasionally," he says. "But we have had medium to moderate blooms across the state, which indicate we'll have lots of fruit."

Crassweller notes this has been an unusual spring. "It stayed so cold for so long, there was little difference north to south -- normally there is a 10-day difference as the early growing season progresses," he says. "But once it got warmer, things progressed rapidly. Cherries, peaches and apples were all in bloom at the same time. Normally one dies out by the time another starts to bloom. This is the first time in 25 years I have seen them all bloom together."

The past five years brought drought conditions, but this spring has been almost too wet, bringing growers concerns about disease. "We came into spring in pretty good shape across most of the state with moist soils. But all the rain we have had in May might cause an increase in diseases such as apple scab, peach scab, peach leaf curl, brown rot and fire blight.

"Fruit growers are never happy with the weather, but they will take what they can get," says Crassweller. "It's ironic that after so much drought, we are getting too much rain. But despite wet conditions, there is potential this year for a really good crop."

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EDITORS: Contact Robert Crassweller at 814-863-6163 or by e-mail at rmc7@psu.edu.

Contact:

Gary Abdullah gxa2@psu.edu Jeff Mulhollem jjm29@psu.edu 814-863-2719 814-863-9877 fax #165