farm hunter; we' re pretty protected down below the Niagara Escarpment so we don' t normally get frosts during apple bloom period. If peaches, cherries or apricots take a frost you lose the crop. Apples are more frost hardy but they also bloom later than the tender crops. If you were in a really bad frost pocket most trees would suffer some damage.

I agree with you that continual rain during and after fruit set is a problem with apples (almost any fruit).

Even though we are well north of you we can grow some very southerly trees because of the lake effect. The ice and cold lake water don' t allow the weather to warm up too quickly in the spring. This holds back the trees from flowering until the frost danger is over. It' s the same as planting on the north slope of a hill. The trees on the north side might be a week behind the ones on the sunny south side.

Dan O.