The Peru Gazette

Thanks to Joanne Kennedy for the great photos. See www.joannekennedy.net

By John T. Ryan

May 13, 2010 was the end of the smudge pot era at Forrence Orchards. At about 1 a.m. Seth Forrence and two helpers lit about 550 pots for the last time. Forrence said that smudge pots made economic sense when fuel oil sold at $.50 a gallon and apples sold for $15.00 to $16.00 a bushel. Today fuel oil sells for $2.70 a gallon while apples still sell for $15.00 to $16.00 a bushel. He said he’ll be relying on wind machines in the future. Forrence’s Stafford Farm off the Mannix Road has three wind machines.

This  week’s low temperatures arrived at a bad time because several apple varieties were in full bloom. Forrence said that temperatures dipped to as low as 25 degrees in some parts of the orchard.  He stated, “There’s a certain part of the farm where the trees are low-lying where the fruit is pretty well shot.” He said it’s too soon to estimate any percentage of crop loss.