GABLE, S.C. — Dorr Farms in Sumter is preparing for two nights of at-or-below freezing temperatures following the recent warm spell that led to an early bloom.
"It could be devastating," Maynard Dorr said.
The Dorr family anticipates their strawberry, blackberry, and blueberry crops will face the brunt of the cold snap.
"The weather we've had the last three weeks has really made the plants bloom, and berries we've already begun picking red berries," Dorr said.
He added that blueberries only bloom once so if the freeze damages or kills them, that will be it for the year. He said strawberries can usually bounce back, but it's better to cover them than leave them susceptible to an intense cold snap.
"The worst case is it gets down in the 20s tonight and stays there for five or six hours and does damage to the fruit," he said. "We probably won't have a blueberry blackberry crop,".
The family has been out since Wednesday trying to cover the crops ahead of the cold nights and has a process to keep them warm.
"The blankets are used as an insulation and it keeps the warm air under the plastic," Dorr said. "But also, by adding water, freeze protecting it as I call it, as water freezes it causes a small amount of heat and by putting the water on you put heat around that fruit."
With strong winds whipping around the farm Saturday, the Dorr family has had a harder time covering the crops.
"We have the tarps and we got them tied down, bags and blocks on them but the wind is blowing as hard as it can," Dorr said.
So, Dorr will be out every hour checking to make sure the crops are protected.
"Hopefully, all we're doing covering and watering will protect the fruit, but we're still gonna lose probably 20, 30 percent of the blueberries and blackberries and a fair amount of the strawberries."