Aug 12, 2009

Windstorm Batters Michigan’s Fruit Ridge

By one estimate, Michigan may have lost 10 percent of its apple crop in the windstorm the night of Aug. 9.

Others believe that’s much too high since the damage was confined to a relatively small area – although one of intense production of desirable varieties of high-quality fruit for fresh market.

The storm, clocked at 65 miles per hour but containing gusts that snapped large trees and electric poles, struck hard on Fruit Ridge just north of Grand Rapids. Hardest hit were the most expensive varieties, Honeycrisp and Gala, growing on nine rootstocks and supported by light trellis. Whole rows of these brittle-wooded trees were snapped off at the graft unions and pushed over.

Mark Youngquist, a grower just west of Sparta with 200 acres of orchard, said he lost thousands of trees, and the full extent was becoming more obvious as time went by. About half the trees in one block, while still standing held up by trellis wires, were turning brown, showing the effects of cracked graft unions.

Youngquist was in the orchard with tractor and brush pusher, clearing out every other row so he could spray with antibiotic for fire blight control. He feared an outbreak would follow in the wake of damage to limbs and foliage. Workers were cutting downed trees to clear alleys and piling dead trees in alternate alleys.

Wayne, Mark’s father, doesn’t believe the 65 mph figure – showing where the foundation on his attached garage had moved eight inches, putting a bow in the wall. That wind was hurricane force.

A stack of oak bins, emblazoned with the Youngquist name, had been knocked over – a first in Mark’s experience.

Phil Schwallier, the horticulturist in charge of the Clarksville Experiment Station and owner of an orchard on 7 Mile Road six miles from the Youngquists, was touring the area when he spoke on his cell phone.

“What a mess,” he said, making the estimate that “10 percent of our apple crop is on the ground.”

He estimated that 20 to 30 apple growers were “affected majorly” and that up to 100 lost some trees and suffered loss of apples from the trees – and perhaps more to bruising that will show up later. The storm affected growers from about 8 Mile Road south of Sparta to 17 Mile Road in Kent City.

“We watched the storm develop on radar, and it just seemed to explode (over the damage area),” he said.

Amy Irish-Brown, the fruit Extension educator in the Fruit Ridge area, said Youngquist seemed to have the worst damage, but he shared with neighbor Joe Klein. Joe Rasch had a lot of damage on 10 Mile Road, Schwallier said. Growers north of Kent City had some losses of fruit, but not much tree damage, according to Peter Nyblad at Solstice Farms.

Irish-Brown said probably 100 to 200 acres of trees had been blown down, and that perhaps 5 to 10 percent of the apples in the area were on the ground.

Big trellises held up pretty well, but the lighter ones – stakes and a single wire – went down in a long line.

“Unfortunately, the benefits of supports come with some risk,” Schwallier said.

Freestanding trees and older trees suffered less damage. On his own farm, five miles from the heart of the damage, Schwallier said he lost 16 trees and about 5 percent of his apples were shaken from the rest.

The Michigan Apple Committee estimated that 8 to 10 percent of the Michigan apple crop may be on the ground, and that would mean more than 2 million bushels. With 200 acres of lost trees, 200,000 bushels is gone for sure, and many already-thinned trees took another thinning.

-Dick Lehnert