The current cold snap may cause serious damage to the fruit and vegetable harvest in the Central Asian region. This is reported by the EastFruit website.
So, in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, the entire crop of apricots, cherries, almonds, grapes, as well as other crops, is under threat due to frost and too early start of flowering.
According to EastFruit experts, in almost all regions of Central Asia, even crops such as early potatoes and onions are under threat.
The abnormally warm for this time of year weather that has been established in the region since the end of January and the beginning of February has led to an early awakening of nature and, as a result, the flowering of stone fruit tree species.
EastFruit interviewed gardeners, farmers and specialists from a number of regions of Uzbekistan about how they assess the risks of losing the future stone fruit crop.
The respondent gardeners are most concerned about the apricot crop, as these trees are inherently “weak”. In addition to the cold weather, their yield is also affected by the level of precipitation and other factors related to weather conditions. If the weather forecast is correct, there will be a risk of the complete apricot crop loss this year.
As for the bird-cherries, it is more “resistant” than the apricot. But at such subzero temperatures, as forecasters predict, here the damage cannot be avoided.
However, all is not lost and farmers keep up their spirits, all the respondent gardeners intend to use an old traditional method of protecting gardens from such sudden changes in temperature during or on the eve of flowering trees.
Namely, to prepare a mixture of manure and hay, place such piles all over the garden and set them on fire.The resulting thick smoke envelops the garden and thus helps protect the trees from “below-freezing” temperatures.
Who knows, sometimes “grandfather” methods are more effective than the latest scientific developments.