Cherry Blossoms and Pear Blossoms

Cherry and Pear trees are in bloom at One Love Farm. Of course, as I have posted before, everything is three weeks early in Rhode Island this year. That is good news and bad news. The good news is that we will be getting fruits and veggies earlier than normal this year. The bad news is that plants that flower early or are planted early are susestible to environmental factors that might not otherwise effect them.

Let me explain what I mean with an example. If a pear tree blooms at its normal time, the bees known when to pollinate it and the fruit ripens when the weather is perfect. If the tree flowers early, then the bees are not there to pollinate the flowers. The tree could also get hit with a late frost that could damage the flowers and reduce the amount of fruit.

Now, three weeks is not a huge amount of time and the trees are likely to be fine. However, when plant cycles get out of synch with animal cycles or seasonal weather cycles, it could spell trouble for plants and the people who eat those plants fruits.