Autumn in Ithaca: Vibrant foliage likely, but apple picking hampered by early frost
That nip in the air is coming back, for now only felt in morning walks or late-night drives, but there’s no doubt that Fall weather – and foliage – is coming to Tompkins County soon.
With the release of I Love NY’s first fall foliage report today and statements from Cornell University professors who’ve weighed in on how this year’s weather may impact leaf-peeping, it’s seeming like a good year for fall foliage fanatics in New York.
“At this time of year, we are really looking for sunny days and cool nights to kick off the fall colors, not quite what we have seen at the beginning of September,” DeGaetano said. “Barring any big storms that may blow the leaves from the trees, the fall 2023 foliage season is on track provide some nice leaf-peeping opportunities!”
In New York, the first signs of fall foliage are appearing in the Adirondacks, Catskills, Thousand Islands-Seaway and Chautauqua-Allegheny, according to field reports from volunteer observers for the Empire State Development Division of Tourism’s I LOVE NY program.
“In general, summers with lots of sunny days and adequate moisture are probably the ideal conditions for vibrant foliage,” Director of Cornell’s Northeast Regional Climate Center, Art DeGaetano said in a statement from the university. “This summer lived up to these conditions in some places, especially northern New England.”
May frost hurts apples
This summer may have been ideal for creating fall foliage, but a late frost on May 18 – dubbed “the killer frost” by many – destroyed much of the region’s apple and grape crop, with some farms reporting a loss of as much as 95% of their crop.
“Statewide, we’re looking at losses, probably 20% of the total volume of the state, give or take,” Gregory Peck, an associate professor of horticulture at Cornell, said in a statement from the university. “We’ll see some losses, but there are many farms in New York State that received little to no damage.”
“Statewide, it doesn’t look so bad, but we know there are many individual farms that lost almost everything, which is just devastating."
This prompted many orchards in the region, including Indian Creek Farms in Northwest Ithaca, to discontinue u-pick apple harvesting for the year.
“We’ve been bringing stuff in from places that didn’t get hit (by the frost) to meet demand,” said farmhand Ally Jones Thursday.
She said that about 80% of the farm’s apple crop was destroyed, or too stifled by the frost to use, and about half of the remaining 20% have sustained frost damage.
“They have weird bumps or textures on the skin, or they’re just kind of stunted,” Jones said. “We just pressed our first batch of cider, and it tastes awesome, so were using those (apples) for cider, and some people are still picking them because they have fun just bringing their kids and enjoying the scenery.”
Gregory Peck, an associate professor of horticulture at Cornell, said in a statement from the college that warmer winters resulting from climate change can prompt apple trees to bloom sooner, which would heighten losses from spring frosts in the future.
“Growers can do things like choosing different varieties to mitigate loss,” he said. “Some varieties are programmed to bloom earlier or later, so growers can plant a mix of those varieties, so they don’t have a single frost event take out everything.”
To make up for what it lost in this years frost, Indian Creek Farm has focused on u-pick vegetables more so than in prior years, Jones said.
“We’ve been calling it ‘the year of the vegetable,’” she said. “We normally have a lot of u-pick vegetables, but I feel like were going really ham on that this year.”
This article originally appeared on Ithaca Journal: Ithaca fall foliage: Soaked summer will bring out bright colors
