By Catherine M. Welch
Wilmington, NC – Researchers keeping an eye on North Carolina's blueberry and strawberry crops say the cold weather won't put a damper on berry season.
Strawberry growers have been covering their crops, protecting the fruit and trapping in the heat.
For blueberries, NC State Researcher Bill Cline says the freezing temperatures will ensure that the plants will leaf and flower properly.
"Timing is everything, this time of year they absolutely have to have it. Later on in the Spring, after they've bloomed out, cold weather becomes a terrible threat."
That threat, says Cline, starts late February, early March such as the Easter Freeze of 2007 that damaged much of the state's blueberry crops.
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