COLUMBUS, Ohio – The weather in Ohio has been especially unpredictable this year. Record-setting highs were often followed by bone-chilling lows. Not only did it make daily clothes selection a challenge, but the unusual weather patterns may also impact everything from grapes, tree fruits and berries to landscape plants, flowers and pests.
Many spring-budding plants and trees have already bloomed in some areas thanks to a near record-setting stretch of warm weather that much of the state experienced. Then, just this week, winter returned in force as Ohio experienced snow and below average frigid temperatures.
Experts with The Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, including with Ohio State University Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), are available to speak with members of the media about both the commercial and consumer impacts they foresee from the temperature fluctuations.
Grapes
Melanie Lewis Ivey
Associate Professor, Fruit Pathology
OARDC, Wooster
330-263-3838 (office) / 330-465-0309 (cell)
ivey.14@osu.edu
Insects
Celeste Welty
OSU Extension Entomologist and Associate Professor
Columbus
614-292-2803
welty.1@osu.edu
Landscape Plants / Flowers
Pam Bennett
OSU Extension Horticulture Educator, Clark County
State Master Gardener Program Director
937-521-3860
bennett.27@osu.edu
Small Fruit / Berry Crops
Brad Bergefurd
OSU Extension Horticulture Specialist
(strawberries, vegetable crops, hops)
OSU Extension Scioto County, Portsmouth
OSU South Centers, Piketon
40-289-2071, ext. 136
beregurd.1@osu.edu
Gary Gao
OSU Extension Horticulture Specialist
Associate Professor of Small Fruit Crops
(aronia, blackberries, blueberries, elderberries, raspberries, and wine grapes)
OSU South Centers, Piketon
740-289-2071, ext. 123
gao.2@osu.edu
Tree Fruit
Diane Miller
Associate Professor, Horticulture and Crop Science
OARDC, Wooster
330-263-3824
miller.87@osu.edu