By Clint Thompson
Potential sub-freezing temperatures this weekend could impact Georgia’s peach crop, which is already blooming, and in some orchards, peaches are already on trees.
Jeff Cook, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources agent for Peach and Taylor counties, discussed the impact that the forecasted temperatures will have on the state’s peach crop.
“We’ve got a little bit of everything blooming right now. We’ve still got a little ways to go on a lot of stuff. We’ll get some injury. It depends on how long it stays cold and if the forecast holds true exactly how they’re saying, 29 degrees Fahrenheit (F) on Saturday,” Cook said. “We do the same thing every year. We’re leaving a little bit more on the trees to ensure against these cold snaps like this. We leave a few more flowers, and it makes it a little bit more work if we don’t get any cold. (But) if we do get cold, at least we have a crop left behind.”
Cook said that instead of growers cutting every fruiting stem and having a final cut by mid-March, they will leave fruiting wood on the tree. Producers will remove them once they are out of the woods for cold temperatures.
He mentioned other management options that farmers can be doing now to prepare for this weekend.
“Keeping the orchard irrigated ahead of it can help produce a little bit of heat. Cultural practices that we do all season, keeping that herbicide strip under the trees, keeping it bare of weeds will help with radiated heat,” Cook said. “We’ve got a couple of guys that have wind machines, which Sunday they’ll probably turn on. Depending on the type of cold, the wind machines can give you 4 or 5 degrees change in the tree canopy. If it’s 29F, that’s all you really need. A few degrees can make a world of difference.”
Cook estimates that less than half of the crop is in full bloom. However, low-chill varieties already have peaches on the trees.
