By Brad Haire
University of Georgia
Georgia peach trees are on track to get enough chilly winter
weather to make a sweet summer crop. But there are some
concerns, says a University of Georgia Cooperative Extension
expert.
Peach trees go dormant in winter. During this time, they need
chill hours (hours below 45 degrees) to properly bloom in spring
and produce fruit in summer, says Kathy Taylor, a UGA Extension
peach horticulturist. Depending on the variety, trees need
between 400 and 1,100 chill hours in Georgia.
About 90 percent of Georgia’s 15,000 acres of peaches are grown
in middle Georgia. The area has received about 800 chill hours
this winter, she said. Peach trees there need about 1,000 chill
hours to produce a good crop.
“It looks like we’ll get around 150 more chill hours over the
next 10 days, based on the forecast,” Taylor said. “If that
happens, we should get the hours we need for middle Georgia.”
Chill hours aren’t counted after Feb. 15.
The forecast is less certain for farmers in south Georgia, who
grow about 8 percent of the state’s peaches. Most varieties
there need 500 to 650 chill hours. Right now, the area could use
about 100 more hours.
There’s a good chance they’ll come over the next few weeks. “We
should make it,” she said. “But by the skin of our teeth.”
There’s another problem for south Georgia growers. The weather
has been springlike, with daytime temperatures reaching well
into the 70s in recent weeks.
Some trees are starting to wake from their winter naps about
three weeks ahead of normal. Buds are starting to swell and some
are even flowering. This puts them at risk. Freezing
temperatures can kill these fragile buds.
But each year, farmers routinely thin the buds from each tree,
which can hold 3,000 to 7,000 buds. Depending on the variety,
they’ll leave only 250 to 700 fruits on a tree. This helps the
tree direct its resources to growing good-tasting, well-sized
peaches.
Most farmers would prefer to thin the crop without Mother
Nature’s help, she said.
It’s hard to say how the harvest will turn out this year, she
said. Georgia peach farmers worry each year as winter and spring
play tug-of-war with their crop. A freeze in April or early May
can damage a crop.
“But at this point,” Taylor said, “we’re on track to have a
pretty good crop.”
Georgia’s peach harvest starts in late April and runs through
September. Early-maturing varieties can yield about 7,000 pounds
per acre. Later varieties can yield three times that, she
said.
A cool, damp spring hurt Georgia’s ’05 peach crop, which was
about 40 million pounds, about 25 percent less than in ’04.
Georgia’s peach crop is worth around $35 million annually.
