Historic heat then freezing temperatures this spring had devastating impact on peach crop in NJ

NEW JERSEY (WABC) -- After a combination of freezing and historic warming, a peach crop for the fourth largest peach producer in the U.S. has been damaged in New Jersey.

The peaches are sold not just locally, but throughout the East Coast.

Some peaches survived because of an 'all hands on deck' frenzy at Alstede Farms back in April to limit frost damage.

"Our whole team worked tirelessly to get out here with frost machines, we had fans going through the orchards and we also had little candles throughout all of our fields. The main idea was to raise the temperature just about four or five degrees, that's sometimes all we need to save our crop," Rebecca Alstede-Modery, co-owner of Alstede Farms.

Mother nature sent temperatures soaring into the mid to high 80s, coaxing buds out early, then plunged drastically, which is a death threat to crops like strawberries, peaches and apples.

Alstede lost a quarter of its peachers.

Some farms still have peaches, while supplies and the local peach season may be shorter.

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