WINDHAM — Orchard owner Sam Nassar plucked a small, green Cortland apple, bit it in half, and showed off its well-formed seeds — a sign his apple harvest will be a good one come September.
Earlier this spring, he and other area orchard owners were biting fingernails. With extremely early blooms, in April — earlier than some ever remember — they feared a frost would devastate the flowers and doom the crop. A frost hit May 10.
It was a close call for Nassar at Apple Acres in Windham and fellow apple growers in Londonderry, but they dodged a bullet.
"If it was one more cold night or one more degree colder, we would have lost everything," Nassar said.
Statewide, the jury is still out on the May frost's effect on the apple crop, said Ron Christie, master gardener coordinator for Rockingham County.
Some growers in the New England region suffered heavy apple losses this spring. But growers in Rockingham County, home to at least 21 orchards, said their trees saw their way through the early warmth and late chill.
"I've got an excellent apple crop; we came through," said Wayne Elwood of Elwood Orchards in Londonderry.
Life or death for apples can depend on the elevation of trees and air movement, Christie said. Cold air settles in valleys, damaging trees in low-lying areas, he said.
Andy Mack Jr. of Mack's Apples in Londonderry said the rolling terrain in Londonderry, in tandem with orchard wind machines, kept air circulating and losses to a minimum. He rates his crop at 95 percent right now.
But he was worried about his apples blossoming so early, two and a half to three weeks earlier than usual.
He said he was surprised at the large volume of blooms after last year's bumper apple crop.
As it turned out, only about three or four low-lying acres of Mack's 100 acres of apples were damaged by the conditions this spring.
"We are doing pretty well," he said, laughing with the knowledge that things can always change — and fast.
Mother Nature could yet serve hail, blight and swarming insects — archenemies of apples.
Nassar typically uses July 4 as a milestone for his 20 varieties of apples and 1,200 trees.
When he rolls through orchard rows at 2.5 mph on his tractor and can see small apples, it's a sign there is at least enough fruit to support the farm.
Nassar and his wife, Jean, have run the family farm by themselves since 1974.
Tuesday, he walked at the tractor's pace and could see lots of little apples. With luck, he said, he will start picking McIntosh apples by Sept. 8.
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