Due to the cold spring, the vegetation is two to three weeks behind schedule. This is a blessing for apple trees and people with allergies.
If you pass the numerous orchards these days, there is no real spring feeling. The apple trees in particular only bloom sparsely. A real spring awakening could create the coming weekend. With up to 27 degrees, which are predicted for Sunday, the apple trees could also get going. But what does this delay do to nature?
“In fact, the vegetation is two to three weeks behind schedule this year,” says Frankfurt biologist Hilke Steinecke. While the apple trees should long ago bloom, the chestnuts, tulips and daffodils should already be withered. “At least we will have some of the blossoms for a longer period of time,” says Steinecke, who locates the current fluctuations in the normal range. However, April was noticed on the long-term average due to its extreme cold. In central Germany, the average temperature was just over six degrees. The frost came again and again at night. So there were delays in the spring bloom.
“In the last four years, flowering has always come too early,” says Anja Engels, phenologist at the German Weather Service. Last year, due to the early summer temperatures, both apple and cherry trees blossomed ten days earlier than expected. “That is why it feels all the later this year.” With regard to the long-term average, the apple trees are only about a week late, and the cherry trees are only two days too late.
Finally everything will shine
According to the phenologist, the harvest should not be affected by the late flowering: “The tree simply catches up with something like that,” says Anja Engels. Gerhard Weinrich from the Mainäppelhaus is also not worried about the delayed flowering. The association operates several orchards on the Lohrberg. “The current situation has become a blessing for the apple trees. If the trees had bloomed earlier, they might not have survived the night frost of the last few weeks, ”said the club’s chairman. In addition, the cool temperatures would have held back the pest infestation significantly. “Now our trees only need rain, because the last few weeks have not only been cold, but also very dry.”
A problem could still stand in the way of a successful harvest. Beekeeper Lotte Jüling-Pohlit said the bees were hardly active due to the cold and windy weather of the past few weeks. The chairwoman of the Frankfurt Beekeeping Association was able to harvest the first honey last year at this time of year. “Now the bees need the honey to survive on their own. Below twelve degrees no bee comes out of her hive to harvest nectar, ”says Jüling-Pohlit. The bees would find it difficult to do their job of pollinating the flowers. However, the beekeeper is certain that it is too early to make a current forecast.
For people with pollen allergies, the cold April should have been very accommodating. The concentrated load of pollen has so far been missing this year, at least that’s how phenologist Engels felt. According to her, grasses will in all likelihood be “striking” this weekend due to the summer temperatures. For allergy sufferers, this could be a nuisance.
Anyone who is out and about in the forest this weekend at the forecast temperatures should keep an eye out for beeches. After a rather hesitant leaf development this year, these should suddenly appear green thanks to the heat wave, according to Anja Engels’ prognosis. “Finally everything will shine.”
