Emmett cherry farmers are battling late-season freezing temperatures to save their crops ahead of the annual cherry festival.With multiple nights dipping below freezing this week, it is a high-risk time of year for fruit growers . Farmers will keep a close eye on their crops until May 10, when they are usually in the clear from freezing temperatures.Lance Phillips, owner of Gem Orchards, warned last month that an early bloom this year could make his trees more vulnerable during a late-season freeze."At 28 degrees, we lose about 10% of our fruit. 10% is not catastrophic, but it's 10% per hour," Phillips said. WATCH | Learn more about Emmett's current cherry farm conditions Emmett cherry farmers battle late-season freezing temperatures to save crops ahead of the annual Cherry FestivalPhillips explained the compounding nature of the cold. He noted that some areas of his orchard hit 28 degrees at 2 a.m. during a recent freeze, meaning the cold air settled in the bottom of the orchard for five or six hours, compounding that 10% loss hour after hour.Phillips showed a side-by-side comparison of a cherry hit by the freeze and one he believes will make it to the festival."One looks like it's got a little frost damage, and one's as green as it's gonna get," Phillips said.However, Phillips noted that losing some fruit to frost doesn't necessarily mean losing the full crop. He explained that a single limb can only support so much weight about 12 peaches, for example and they naturally thin the fruit to be five to six inches apart anyway."The nice thing is that if we have healthy trees, we have a lot of blossoms, a little bit of fruit loss is part of the game. What's left is gonna get bigger because it is an energy system," Phillips said, describing it as a natural thinning process that results in larger remaining cherries."Don't count us out yet," Phillips said.To fight the cold, Gem Orchards uses diesel-fueled smudge pots to add a few degrees of warmth. Phillips demonstrated how the pots burn the fumes on top of the diesel, adding two to three degrees of warmth to the surrounding air. The pots can burn for eight to 10 hours if needed.The orchard also uses large circulation fans that push warmer air down into the orchard when there is a temperature inversion. Phillips showed off a mobile wind machine that can be moved anywhere in the orchard. The machine, which costs about $38,000, extends 25 to 30 feet in the air and rotates. It features temperature gauges on both the top and bottom to measure if the air above is actually warmer before engaging.Phillips explained the financial strain of farming, noting that fruit trees are "performance athletes" that require significant fertilizer to produce fruit. Because fertilizer is a petroleum product, he said the cost has doubled in the last six weeks due to escalating gas prices. He noted that farmers have to apply fertilizer and spend thousands of dollars on pruning regardless of whether they have a successful crop or not."When people ask why is fruit expensive, we have a lot of inputs, and there's no guarantee," Phillips said.Despite the challenges, which also include wet, rainy weather preventing bees from pollinating the blossoms, Phillips remains optimistic."It's still too early to tell, but we still have some fruit left, and we know we'll have some fruit for the cherry festival because we have 11 different varieties," Phillips said.Just over 9 miles away on the east side of Emmett, Matt Williams operates Waterwheel Gardens in a completely different microclimate.Williams said temperatures at his orchard dropped to 29 degrees. While Gem Orchards saw colder temperatures for longer facing a 10% loss per hour at 28 degrees Williams believes his higher elevation helped limit the damage.Williams also added that Gem Orchards has more trees and variety, compared to Waterwheel Garden's lone Rainier cherry trees.After Thursday night's freeze, Williams estimates only about a 5% total loss."We got a really good crop, but you can see there's just a little bit of damage on some of these," Williams said."As far as frost goes, it looks like we survived this one, and we should be good for at least the next week," Williams said.However, Williams noted that frost is not the only threat to the crop."Obviously, there's still the chance of hail. There's wind, heavy, heavy winds could damage things. I mean, there's a number of things that could happen," Williams said. ...read more read less