Late freezes hurt some Central Texas crops

A couple of late-season freezes in April took a nip out of some Central Texas crops.

About 60 percent of McLennan County’s wheat was knocked out by the chilly temperatures. Corn crops were also affected some, but most should rebound, said Shane McLellan, the county’s Texas AgriLife Extension Service agent for agriculture.

In McLennan County, white grapes grown by the Tehuacana Creek Vineyards and Winery were affected by the late freezes. Inga-Lill Westblom, who owns the vineyards with her husband, said the cold on Easter weekend wiped out 40 to 50 percent of the variety. The couple uses them to make dry white wine.

“It’s very popular,” Westblom said of the wine. “So it’s very sad.”

Luckily, other varieties of grapes bud out later and were not affected, Westblom said.

Area wheat crops suffered casualties in cold weather right before Easter, McLellan said. The county had three freezes in less than two weeks, he said. The second and third time, temperatures dropped below 28 degrees. When wheat is in the fruiting stage like it was then, 32 degrees is about the coldest it can get without the crop being damaged, he said.

Corn, as well as Bermuda and Johnson grass used for grazing, also were affected, McLellan said. But the corn should rebound and the grasses are being regrown, he said.

Gardeners probably won’t be as lucky, however.

“A lot of garden crops were lost because people weren’t expecting a freeze,” McLellan said.

Area peach farms, on the other hand, are doing well despite the cold snaps. The fruit is fragile, with farmers experiencing a total loss every four or five years. A season where temperatures get as low as they did this year so late in the season can spell disaster. But area farms say they fared okay, although in some cases they had to help to help Mother Nature a bit.

Mary Lightsey of Lightsey Farms near Mexia said the frost that blanketed the area several times during the past month caused minor damage to the family’s peach crop. But as a whole, the fruit survived intact, she said.

At Cooper Farms in nearby Freestone County, the frost likely would have been more problematic, said Kathy Cooper, who owns the farm with her husband. But a couple of years ago, they invested in wind machines that help keep the fruit warm during cold spells.

The machines push air down so the warmer air that collects near the ground by trees stays there, Cooper said. Plus, the extra air movement helps keep frost from forming, she said.

The farm had to run the machines all night on two occasions this season, Cooper said. Without that help, Cooper said the damage would have been severe. Just across the fence from where the machines were blowing, she could see frost, she said.

“We paid on the front end of this,” Cooper said, alluding to the 10 machines the farm bought for about $15,000 each. “But it’s paying off now.”

Last week’s rains won’t make up for damage caused by the cold, said McLellan, from the extension service. But it will benefit some of the crops that survived. It also provided some needed water for local cattle stock tanks, he said.