Cold Weather Fails to Cause Major Damage to Orchards
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FRESNO — The record-breaking cold apparently did less damage to San Joaquin Valley citrus orchards than had been expected, agricultural officials said today.
“It could have been disastrous and it’s really too soon to tell for sure, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be as bad as we first expected,” said a spokesman in the Fresno County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office.
He predicted that damage to the valley navel orange crop would be about 10% to 15% from the four days of temperatures that dropped into the high teens in some valley areas last week.
Officials credited efforts by growers to ward off the freezing temperatures in their orchards and the fact that the freeze happened in February for the lower than expected damage.
Growers ran warm water through their orchards, burned fuel oil and dried peach pits and operated wind machines.
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