Wednesday’s surprise hail storm caused some damage in lower Hood River valley orchards, but the extent is still being assessed.
“The fruitlets right now are small but a big enough target, and a lot of it depends on how hard it is and how long it hit,” said Craig Mallon, fieldman for Duckwall Pooley packing house. Mallon said he and other packing house field reps are still assessing the extent of the damage from the storm, which pelted areas near Hood River with pea-sized ice pellets for nearly five minutes.
“Clearly there was some damage. We are still assessing it. It takes a few days for it to become apparent,” Mallon said.
“It’s too early to tell what that’s going to look like at harvest. Field reps are scrambling to get a handle on it,” said Steve Castagnoli, OSU horticulturist. “The hail can cause fruit damage, by causing marks on the fruit surface, and while some of it can be superficial, if it persists it can cause the quality to be downgraded,” said Castagnoli, who reported damage to some fruit groves at the Experiment Station, in the lower valley. “If it actually bruises fruit below the surface that’s a bigger concern,” he said.
The other concern is damage to the leaves and branches, adding to the chance that fire blight bacteria can find entry points in the trees, according to Mallon, who said orchardists will need to address fire blight soon.
The mid- and upper valley areas were unaffected by hail. “Normally, hail hits us the worst on the west side, but this time we just had hard rain,” said Brian Hukari, who farms on Barrett Drive.
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