Texas Autumn Apple Crops Ruined Due to Spring Flooding

On a farm where beauty prevails, there is an ugly site at Henrietta Creek Orchard in Roanoke, one that makes owner Sue Stone sick to her stomach.

Dozens of her apple trees are dead and rotting. The majority of their fruit is far from edible.

“It’ll be a little spot and then it gets bigger and bigger till it turns to mush and it dries it,” said Stone holding up a rotting apple.

“This is kinda how they wind up at the end, it’s a mummified apple,” she said.

Stone said the problem is the tremendous amount of rain that fell across North Texas in the late spring.

Not only did it soak her crops, but the creek on her property flooded, leaving her rows of trees in standing water.

Stone said fungus like bitter rot settled in, as did the disease fire blight.

“We took a wagon full after wagon full to our burn pile back here. Talk about being sick, and by the time we got through, there's just hardly anything left,” Stone said.

She said the problem isn’t just on her farm, but across North Texas.

She’s heard of people losing acres upon acres of crops and plants because of the flooding, leaving many farmers in distress.

“I think it affected all of us that try to grow things really, really bad,” she said.

Stone said financially she and her husband will take a hit.

But just like her orchard, she’s optimistic things will be in full bloom next year.

Stone said Henrietta Creek Orchard is still open for several activities, including field trips for students.
 

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