UPDATE: Popular St. Helena strawberry grower doesn't lose all strawberries in recent freeze

This story has been updated on Wednesday, March 22, 2017 to reflect that Dempsey Farms have some strawberries available for picking. The farms automated answering machine message reflected that their fields would be closed because of the freeze.

Last week’s freezing temperatures cost St. Helena Island strawberry grower Dempsey Farms “all available berries,” forcing the popular “U-Pick” operation to close this week, according to a phone message at the business Tuesday morning.

When talked to on Wed., March 22, Davis Dempsey said the farm will open today at 10 a.m. and that they "have some berries (available) for picking."

Dempsey said he wasn't sure what had survived until they got out into the fields on Monday to clear off all of the bad strawberries. They spent the entire day in the fields.

Dempsey Farms is located at 1576 Sea Island Parkway.

Prior to the mid-March freeze, the unseasonably warm winter in the Lowcountry led to a near-record amount of berries at the business, with more customers than usual picking their own berries in February, Davis Dempsey said March 15.

The business had for decades been able to successfully preserve crops in the cold by using 55-degree well water on them, instead of covering them, Dempsey said last week. But he added that with the combination of its abundant early harvest and temperatures in the 20s, he was unsure if that method would hold up this time.

This story was originally published March 21, 2017 at 9:54 AM with the headline "UPDATE: Popular St. Helena strawberry grower doesn't lose all strawberries in recent freeze."