Southeast Fruit And Nut Growers Cheer For Colder Temperatures
January 5, 2016 Peach, pecan, and berry growers in Georgia and other Southeast states experienced unseasonably warm temperatures for much of November and December.
With it brought rainstorms and flooding in much of the area.
According to the Albany Herald (GA), December was the second-rainiest on record with warm days and nights.
“I’ve got ducks swimming in pecan orchards,” Randy Hudson of Ocilla, GA, told The Herald last week. “We never, in our wildest imaginations, thought there would be so much rain, or snow, in the pecan belt.”
Growers in the Southeast know these warm temperatures mean peach trees and blueberries are not getting the necessary chill hours.
Bob Welker of Berry Good Farms in Tifton told The Herald he has blueberries in bloom.
“Bud formation is just advancing too rapidly,” agrees Ron Putman of Miller’s Blueberry Farm in Watkinsville, GA.
Duke Lane Jr., told 90.1 WABE in Atlanta peaches need at least 31 or more days of temperatures below 45°F before February.
“It’s been a real warm fall,” says Al Pearson, owner of Pearson Farm in Fort Valley, GA.
Peach growers in central Georgia have experienced several years of about 170 chill hours thus far says The Telegraph in Macon, GA.
“We’re predicted to have a real cold snap. It’s going to be below freezing tonight and we’re down in the 30s,” Pearson says.
Pearson says the cold is a big change from the holidays.
“We’re behind with the amount of chilling hours we need,” he says. “We’ve got enough time to catch up, I think.”
However, Pearson says there are some positives to having a wet fall.
“I like a sloppy wet winter because it charges up the ground and as we go into the season,” he says. “We always have some dry periods so having that reservoir is a good thing.”
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