Crops face a potential freeze Tuesday night into Wednesday morning

DELMARVA – A freeze warning has been issued for Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

That cold snap could have an effect on crops and farms in our area.

“It’s kind of early, a couple weeks down the road this would be more of an issue than it would be right now because you would have more vegetable plants being set out on the plastic and they’re pretty tender,” said Steve Hurley, President of the Wicomico County Farm Bureau.

Hurley, who’s a grain farmer, said the cold snap shouldn’t have too much of an effect on his wheat.

“I don’t think it will be to much of an issue on small grains, right now they’re not old enough to be putting out a head,” he said.

Worcester County Farmer Virgil Shockley said one of the keys Tuesday night will be the wind.

“Tonight if it gets down and the wind dies, that’s the key, if the wind doesn’t die you’ll be okay at 30 degrees. If the wind dies tonight at 30 degrees you’re going to get a frost that is going to kill things,” said Shockley.

While Shockley said it may be a little early for some crop, vegetables and some fruits could be affected.

“If you’re talking about strawberries, peach trees, apple trees and like that you need to put what they call a floating row cover over top those because a lot of your strawberries are now blooming,” said Shockley.

Young plants purchased from garden centers may also be harmed by the cold.

“Mainly if you have young plants that you’ve bought from your home gardening centers, young flowering plants, you need to cover those guys up,” said Shockley.

Temperatures as low as the upper 20s are possible across the region tonight into tomorrow morning.