MN Freeze Produces Apple-Grower Anxiety

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Sub-freezing temperatures have caused anxiety among apple growers.

For a second night in a row, temperatures fell to the upper 20s in the Twin Cities and other parts of southern Minnesota -- even the upper teens in some low-lying areas.

But apple growers are hoping for the best.

Ralph Yates is with the Minnesota Apple Growers Association. He says it'll take weeks to know what kind of damage may have occurred.

"We just need to be optimistic and take a wait-and-see attitude. And let's hope for the best because we've got a great product and a lot of great varieties we want to get out to the people of Minnesota," said Yates, a third-generation orchard owner.

Yates, who runs Fruit Acres in La Cresent, says the previous record for buds to emerge on area apple trees was March 30. This season it was March 18 -- two weeks earlier than ever before.