By Clint Thompson
Chill hours are up across the Southeast region, which is a positive development for fruit tree producers who need chill hours to produce a crop.
Edgar Vinson, assistant research professor and Extension specialist in the Department of Horticulture at Auburn University, provided an update on chill hours in Alabama.
“I think we’re doing pretty good. We’re about where we would like to be in terms of chill hours. We’re at 427 right now, and that’s just the standard chill hours; we’re at a pretty good spot for that now. At this time last year we were at about 350. We’re quite a bit ahead of where we were last year,” said Vinson.
“Even in chill portions we’re quite a bit ahead of where we were last year.”
Specific to peaches, the required chill hours depend on the particular variety growers choose to plant. Some may require as little as 500 chill hours, while others may need as many as 800. Chill hours are generally recorded until about Feb. 14. Growers still have all of January to accumulate chilling, which is another positive for producers.
“We can still get quite a bit during that period as well. Sometimes it does slow when we get towards February, but sometimes we get some of the coldest weather around January,” Vinson said. “Of course, the cold weather doesn’t necessarily mean we’re getting chill; we certainly aren’t losing any. We typically have a better chance, still have a good chance of getting some more chill during that colder part of the year; January and early February.”
Georgia
The positive chill hour news is not just isolated to Alabama. Georgia peach growers are also experiencing an uptick in chill hours, compared to previous years.
According to the UGA Weather Network, chill hours from Nov. 1 to Dec. 21 in Byron, Georgia, was 373, compared to 274.5 last year and 311.75 in 2023. During that same timeframe in Tifton, Georgia, chill hours this year were at 257.5, compared to 222.5 in 2024 and 211.5 in 2023. And in Griffin, Georgia, chill hours were at 535, compared to 364.25 in 2024 and 405.75 in 2023.
“Things look good right now,” said Jeff Cook, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension agriculture and natural resources agent for Peach and Taylor counties.
“We’re at mid-300s to close to 400s, depending on which station you look at. If you look at the 32 to 45 (degrees Fahrenheit), we’re a good ways ahead of the last four or five years with those hours. Some of those models say that’s a little better judge of your actual chill because some of those models take away for really, really cold weather.
“We’re about almost halfway to 800 right now, so that is a good sign. As always, we’ve got to rely on Georgia weather to do what it’s supposed to do. You never know what’s going to happen, but compared to the last four years, we’re well ahead of anything we had.”