By Clint Thompson
Blueberry harvests are still multiple months away for Georgia producers. But the most significant factor that could impact this year’s crop is just a couple of months away.
Georgia growers are hoping to dodge a late-season freeze event that could impact what blueberries are produced this year.
Zack Williams, University of Georgia Bacon County Extension Coordinator, discussed what his blueberry producers are concerned with, during the annual blueberry field day on Jan. 7. A spring freeze tops the list
“Preparing to see what kind of weather we’re going to have as far as cold weather frost as the buds progress,” Williams said. “Once they get later in the game, they can only take so much cold; so gearing up for that and seeing what that entails.
“From now up until Easter, that’s a long time. I think it’s April 5. Rabbiteyes, we usually don’t have a problem with because they’re a later pushing bud and bloom. Highbush is the one that we really look at as far as frost protection, buds progressing for the cold.”
Williams said there are ways that growers can mitigate a potential freeze threat.
“There’s a few products out there that some of the specialists have been looking at. I don’t know that we have any data on that as of today, but yeah, the frost protection using water to warm up the plants; it’s crazy to think how it does that,” Williams said. “Some growers use, it’s almost like a wind turbine, but you hope for an inversion where the warm air and cold air, you get a mixture. It might not work as well as the water-frost protection, but it sure has its place in frost protection. There’s different chemicals that growers try to try to mitigate that cold weather.”