Rain Continues To Impact Local Grape Crop

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NORTH EAST, Pa. (Erie News Now) – A month of rainy weather has done a number on some of our local fruit crops, grapes in particular.

A week ago we sat down with Dave Wagner, the owner of Westgate Farms on East Lake Road in North East. Following a hail storm and some heavy rains, he expected to lose 15-20 percent of his grape crop on the nearly 50 acres he owns











After several days of rain in the past week and in a month where 12 of the 15 days we saw some type of rain, we checked back in with Wagner.

“I said anywhere from 15 to 20 percent BUT NOW I am going to say anywhere from five to 15 percent,” he said.

He explained this week’s rain didn’t do as much damage as he thought it would but he’s keeping an eye to the sky and hoping for sunshine in the coming days and weeks









“We’ve got enough rain for a while,” Wagner said. “I’d like two weeks of dry weather so everything can heel up and keep on growing.”

Wagner said grapes are still about 10-15 days ahead of schedule and they expect to start picking them around September 5th.

 





















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