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of rain have fallen on the area, which usually averages slightly higher than the statewide average rainfall of 40 inches.
According to Rap Owings, Rappahannock Extension Agent, it’s too early to tell how heavy rains and low night temperatures have affected county orchards and crops.
Most susceptible to frost damage are the peach trees which have reached full bud and, in some places, full bloom. “There’s so much variation from orchard to orchard,” said 0wings, “that each fruit crop is really a separate case.”
Apple trees are further behind in development, which means that they’re less likely to suffer damage from late winter freezes. Owings said that there’s a whole scale of possibilities involved in predicting fruit damage: lower temperatures can damage crops in a shorter period of time than higher below-freezing temperatures.
Pasture lands had looked good from the warm and wet March, Owings said. They look green now but growth will not progress until the weather warms up. Damage to low-lying fields from flooding is spotty and not spread throughout the county.
The success of the first hay crop depends a great deal on what happens in the next few weeks. Seeding of oats and hay usually done before April 15 has been postponed in all but a few cases because of ground conditions, and spreading of fertilizer has been delayed.
Winter wheat crops look good except in cases of standing water in the fields, Owings said.
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