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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • DECEMBER 2017 Jack Frost nips crops on heels of hot summer
Harvest wraps up as Arctic weather moves in
by PETER MITHAM
KELOWNA – Snow had been blanketing upper elevations across the province for weeks when it hit in earnest at the beginning of November, with an Arctic inflow delivering snow to the Fraser Valley and temperatures cold enough to make icewine in the Okanagan.
The conditions have left
some wondering if the winter ahead will compare to last winter, when coastal communities endured a record cold snap and snowpacks in many parts of the province reached their deepest levels in years. Current trends certainly
“point to a wetter (snowier) winter,” reports climate scientist Greg Jones of Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon, who issues a regular analysis of weather trends respected by grape growers up and down the West Coast. Growers in the Pacific
Northwest are especially likely to see snowier weather, he adds, after a record wildfire season in which temperatures in southern BC as well as Washington and Oregon hit levels at least 15% above the long-term average. Many fruit growers weren’t feeling the heat as October
wound down, however. The last of the season’s
wine grapes were harvested just seven days before the Arctic blast sent temperatures below -8 degrees Celsius, the legal requirement for harvesting grapes destined for icewine. Crews from Summerhill
Pyramid Winery were out early the morning of November 6 to harvest grapes from a block in Winfield, as well as November 7, when temperatures in the Kelowna area dipped low enough to prompt Quails’ Gate to send out crews to its own vineyards.
The pick came a full month earlier than last year, and was the earliest since the November 5 pick in 2003. However, it was quick work
for Summerhill, as an insulating layer of cloud moved in and temperatures rose above the statutory threshold.
The changeable nature of
the weather underscored the volatile nature of conditions with which growers had spent much of the year dealing. However, the quality of fruit coming in has pleased growers. “Fruit is looking amazing!
[We’re] very impressed with the quality we’ve brought in,” said Ian Galbraith, who handles communications for
Most Okanagan apple growers were able to harvest their fruit before an early cold snap brought snow and sub-zero temperatures to the region. MYRNA STARK LEADER PHOTO
Mission Hill Family Estate. “[The season] started later than anticipated due to a cool, wet spring; but a record- breaking dry spell followed in July and August. The warm, dry summer resulted in small, concentrated berries that should produce wines of exceptional depth and intensity.” Harvest lasted 65 days, officially beginning August 25 (though test picks had been conducted the previous week), and running through October 30. While picking didn’t begin as early as in
previous years, the later start to the season meant many growers were right on schedule. Crisp weather in September kept things moving along, allowing acids to drop and fruit to come into balance.
The one concern is that
some crops may have come up short, thanks both to the severity of last winter that damaged some vines, the damp spring that saw powdery mildew become an issue at bloom, and the smaller size of fruit that did set.
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Size matters Size also mattered to apple
growers, who scrambled to bring in their crop in advance of winter. “It’s early – it’s not one of the earliest I’ve seen – but it doesn’t affect anything,” says Hank Markgraf, horticulturist with BC Tree Fruits Co-op. “Growers got their fruit in on time, and for the most part, everybody got their orchards put to bed.” While a few Pink Lady
growers failed to get in fruit, the losses amounted to less than 100 bins, a fraction of the 185,000 bins of fruit apple growers harvested this year. Harvested volume was
down, in part due to smaller fruit as a result of the hot, dry summer. “The crop size I had estimated to be a little bit larger in the summertime,” explains Markgraf. “It did not come quite to fruition because we went through two seasons this growing season: we went through monsoon season, then we went through desert season. Both of those did not give us the fruit size we were looking for.” While some Okanagan fruit
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growers have expressed concern about the impact of the early Arctic blast on trees and vines, Markgraf isn’t expecting a lot of damage when spring rolls around. Rain in the run-up to the snowfall means the orchards should be well-irrigated, and the snow that descended with the cold kept the ground from freezing solid. “If it was cold and dry, I
would have some worries,” he says. “[This] kinda puts a bit of a blanket on the ground and the ground’s not frozen underneath it so that’s a good thing.”
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