Spring 2005 began nicely in April when we had a couple of weeks of warm spring-like weather and the saskatoon bushes started budding out. However May was eerily reminiscent of 2004. Cold and wet.
On Sunday, May1st we had some snow and we had a few nights of killing frost mid-May. Happily, the saskatoons were flowering only a week late. Normally they will flower around May 15th. In 2005 all the bushes were in full flower by May 23rd. Not very many flower buds were destroyed by the frost.
June saw relentless rain. The fields never did dry out enough for us to spray fungicide and entomosporium took over the entire orchard.
Due to the unfavourable weather in the spring, the saskatoon and cherry trees suffered a complete crop failure. On July 6th, we made the decision not to open the U-Pick for 2005. Our concern was for the saskatoon bushes survival over the winter.
The Saskatoons experienced a heavy Entomosporium outbreak. Although they flowered heavily around May 23, the fruit was unable to develop with almost all of the leaves covered in entomosporium. What little fruit
There were almost no cherry blossoms in 2005. While the Evans Cherries were trying to bloom, we experienced a week of heavy rain and only saw the occasional blossom.
The Nanking Cherries experienced heavy winter kill and only 15% of the branches remained alive.
There were no cherries in 2005.
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