Even the forests caught the frost. The beeches, oaks and firs partially froze

“This year’s plantings are not yet rooted, but last year’s, which are rooted, due to the fact that there was a very warm period two weeks before the frost, the beeches, oaks and firs partially froze and the new growth is burnt. During May, they must leaf out again. It won’t destroy them completely, but it will limit this year’s growth,” Petr Macháček from the Hořovice Division of the Military Forests and Estates of the Czech Republic (VLS) said on Saturday.

According to him, it will also be a bad seed year. “It looked like the oaks and beeches would bloom beautifully, they had lots of flowers, but the frost burned them. So there won’t be as much natural renewal next year and we’ll have to wait for the next seed year,” he added.

Even before the frost, the VLS assumed that the large flowers of oaks and beeches would cover the seeds of the stands and that next year many seedlings would sprout in the forests. For the oak, the next seed year could easily be in seven years, said Macháček. The seeds fly out in the fall and begin to germinate in the spring.

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“It’s a shame because the oaks and beeches were in pretty bloom, there would have been a lot of seeds, but it looks like everything is frozen. There won’t be a seed year, so even the natural rejuvenation and renewal that we now prefer in farming will be postponed by another year, because there won’t be seed material that would fly into the stands,” said David Novotný, director of the Hořovice division of VLS. According to him, the oak has not had a seed year for two summers and the beech for four years.

According to Macháček, the frost affects approximately three meters and caused the most damage to young oaks and beeches, as well as trees in the open area. “The canopies on the windward sides are also burned, hopefully not as much in the stands,” he said.

VLS bets a lot on beeches and oaks. With the Life Adapt project, Brdy wants to create more stable stands with a rich species and spatial structure, which will better withstand climate changes and, for example, bark beetles. After 100 years, instead of the current 80 percent, there should be only 40 percent spruce in Brdy, and the rest beech, oak, pine and larch, as well as cranes and birch.

“The conifers were hardly touched by the frost, except for the fir, which is sensitive to it,” said Macháček. The larches don’t mind the frost.

This year’s blueberry crop is not yet clear. “We’ll see if what’s already blooming will bloom. But it can be seen that it did not burn the leaves much. The blooming bushes may fall, but the ones that weren’t there yet, there will be some harvest in higher locations, but it’s still early,” he added.

According to Macháček, the frost had no effect on the mushroom. “The mushrooms are still at rest now, they mainly need moisture,” he added.