MIDDLEFIELD — Despite the mild winter, crops in Connecticut will be less than fruitful. The record cold snap over the Valentine’s Day weekend essent...

MIDDLEFIELD -- Despite the mild winter, crops in Connecticut will be less than fruitful. The record cold snap over the Valentine's Day weekend essentially destroyed any hope of picking peaches this year.

The frigid temperatures killed the buds which would normally have covered the peach trees with blossoms by now, and later with fruit.

Lyman Orchards has more than 4,000 peach trees on 30 acres. Lyman figures its loss in gross sales will be about $350,000.

"Hopefully we'll be able to make up for some of the loss through the other crops," John Lyman said. "Hopefully, people will want to buy a lot of apples this year."

Lyman Orchards has insurance for crop loss, but the farm says insurance will only cover, at most, about a third of the peach crop's value.