Britain faces a cider crisis due to an apple shortage this year - because winter was too warm, and spring is too cold.
Experts said balmy temperatures from December to February means some British apple tree varieties have created fewer buds to blossom into apples in summer and autumn.
Traditional UK apple trees - often used to make cider - need weeks of near-freezing temperatures during winter to produce a good crop, but the mild winter was one of the least frosty on record.
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Joe Richomme, head of the kitchen garden at Kew Gardens, said: “Traditional apple varieties need more winter chill hours between 0C and 6C.
“If they don’t get enough, they can produce fewer fruit buds, which later in the year leads to less fruit, or perhaps no fruit at all.”
Cider-maker Richard Konig, coordinator of the Abundance community cider-making project in south-west London, said: “The balmy winter has left apple growers fearing a cider shortage come autumn.”
Katherine Rosen, chief executive of charity Orchard Project, which works with 420 orchards, said: “The mild winter means the risk of fewer apples come autumn for eating, juicing and cider-making.
“Apple harvests are becoming unpredictable due to climate change, while whole orchards are being wiped out by new pests including moths.”
Met Office climate scientist Dr Mark McCarthy said: “It was one of the least frosty winters in our records.”
But the South’s -4C March chills at the weekend and forecast cold weather later in March are causing fresh worries, as spring frosts can kill off apple buds.
The Royal Horticultural Society said: “Spring frosts can destroy new apple buds, shoots or flowers.”
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