By Clint Thompson
Peach diseases have been mostly non-existent so far this year for Southeast growers; attributed to the prolonged drought. But there’s still time for this year’s crop to be impacted by certain diseases, says Phil Brannen, University of Georgia (UGA) Cooperative Extension fruit disease specialist.
“If it starts raining, we’ll still have potential for disease. It will probably be less prevalent, in theory, because we have less inoculum, less disease cycles over time,” Brannen said. “If it will really just start off raining now and rain through August, we could have a tremendous amount of disease still.
“You can never let your guard down and say it’s not going to happen. Up to this point, it’s just been so dry that we’re not seeing any disease to any degree on peaches at all.”
That could change soon, however. Pam Knox, University of Georgia (UGA) Extension agricultural climatologist, noted in the UGA Climate Blog that, “(this week) will be quite a bit cooler, and the most likely places for rain to form are in Florida and near the northern Gulf Coast.”
“A rainier pattern is expected to continue into mid-May,” Knox added.
Rain is needed across the Southeast, especially in South Georgia where exceptional drought is observed, and central Georgia, where extreme and severe drought conditions are observed. According to the UGA Weather Network, Byron, Georgia, received 15.45 inches of rainfall from Sept. 1, 2025 to April 27, 2026, compared to 34.73 inches last year and 36.06 inches the prior year.
Brannen said the drought allowed growers to stretch out their fungicide sprays between applications.
“They’re probably at more like a 14-day application window for fungicides rather than a 7-to-10 day window if it’s raining. That’s going to save them a little bit of money, which is good,” Brannen said.