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Crop damage from freeze still unknown

April 12, 2007|GEORGE LEWIS

Farmers in Lincoln and surrounding counties probably won't know until today or tomorrow just how harmful the recent freeze has been on their crops, said Dan Grigson, county extension for agriculture.

"Basically, we'll have to wait until the end of the week and sunshiny days to see the results for forage crops," Grigson said. "The biggest damage could be to alfalfa. If it's taller than two inches, it probably will survive."

Otherwise, Grigson said, "a lot of damage" may have occurred.

"The established alfalfa fields planted prior to this year looked pretty rough today," he said, "but it may rejuvenate."

Perennial flowers that got a boost from the unseasonably warm temperatures of a couple of weeks ago are especially vulnerable to the sudden cold snap, Grigson said.

The cold knocked the blooms off dogwoods but will not affect their growth, he said.

So farmers are taking a wait-and-see attitude, he said.

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Meanwhile, Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer has asked Gov. Ernie Fletcher to seek disaster relief for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in connection with the freeze that he says has "all but wiped out Kentucky's apple and peach crop."

Farmer reports in a news release that Bill Jackson, owner of Jackson's Orchard and Nursery in Bowling Green, has been in business for 42 years but said he has "never seen a freeze as devastating as this one."

Lincoln County has relatively few orchard growers, Grigson said.

"I can't find a live bud on my farm," Jackson reportedly said.

Lincoln County has only three small orchards, Grigson said.

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