Smudge pot and open burning permits for freeze protection on farms have once again been authorized Friday night Aprit 27, 2012 and each night through Monday morning.
See Crop Protection: Procedures for Open Burning and the Use of Smudge Pots Pertaining to New Jersey Fruit, Vegetables, and Floriculture.
For fruit growers: Tree Fruit Critical Temperatures
Make all preparations that you can. Cover strawberries with remay or prepare to irrigate for frost protection.
Temperatures for north west NJ counties-are expected in the high twenties Friday night. National weather service in MT Holly indicates the coldest time frame will be 3am till 7am.
Note- Grower experience tells us that temperatures can be 3-4 degrees colder than the forecast on your individual sites.
28 F will take our 10% of peaches, apples. 25 F will take out 90%.
Hudson Valley temperatures are expected to be even colder with frost freeze events Saturday night and Sunday night. We will not be out of the woods till Monday. Be alert and follow the forecasts!
Websites to check-
NOAA = www.weather.gov http://forecast.weather.gov/ Put in your zip code to check your area.
Also check our NEWA website at http://newa.cornell.edu/ http://newa.cornell.edu/
and you can check our Rutgers Snyder Farm Website for the link to our Weather-Pest alerts.
Rutgers NJWXNET weather station system http://climate.rutgers.edu/njwxnet/index.php
