Expert says late frost not enough to damage entire Hoosier apple crop

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — After the late frost experienced by fruit growers in Indiana last year wiped out most of the 2020 fruit crop, especially apples, fruit producers were looking toward 2021 in hopes of having better yields.

Peter Hirst, the assistant director of international programs in agriculture at Purdue University, as well as a professor of horticulture, said apple producers were looking forward to a big crop this year.

“When there is a light crop one year, the next year there is heavy flowering and a heavy crop,” Hirst said, adding apple producers experienced pretty heavy flowering this spring.

Hirst said a late frost hit most parts of Indiana on April 21 and some places of the state were hit especially hard by the late freeze.

While some areas were hit harder than others, some farms didn’t have much damage at all, he said.

Hirst said the damage can show up in different ways, from wilting and killing the flowers to frost rings being on the fruit when it is produced.

“The fruit is perfectly fine — it just doesn’t look as nice,” he said, adding that the fruit is good to eat, but just doesn’t look good on the outside due to the outer skin being damaged.

Apples with frost rings will probably be made into cider or used for consumer use.

“I expect most growers will still have a crop,” Hirst said, adding that some apple operations may have suffered partial crop loss, but will still have a crop for this fall.

Late frosts are beginning to be common, which might be attributed to climate change, Hirst said.