By Clint Thompson
Georgia’s peach producers have overcome one of the first obstacles of the production season – accumulating enough chill hours. Now comes the next challenge – surviving a potential late-season frost event.
Jeff Cook, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension agriculture and natural resources agent for Peach and Taylor counties, provided an update on chill hours which have been high this year due to the El Niño weather pattern.
“I want to say we’re at like 750 right now on hours. Chill portions have us a little higher if you go by that dynamic model that some folks use. It gives you a little bit of credit for temperatures above 45 (degrees Fahrenheit),” Cook said. “You go by that one, and we’re closer to 800 or 850. We’ve had really good cold this year. I feel like we’re in good shape right now. We’re in the same situation we were in last year with the amount of chill, I think. It’s pretty close.
“In really low chill years, it looks like everything is still asleep when it has not achieved the chill requirements that it needs. Right now, you’re seeing buds starting to swell up a little bit, starting to raise up a little bit off the stems. You don’t have to get out of your truck to go see them.”
Needs to Stay Cool
Peach growers only have to look to this time last year, however, to see how their fortunes can change. Unseasonably warm temperatures last February led to early blooms for peach trees. It made them vulnerable to late frosts, which occurred in March.
“I think this week last year was a lot warmer. I think we hit some high 70s and we were way more advanced last year, even on higher chillers than we are right now,” Cook said. “Right now, I’m just crossing my fingers that it stays cool. If we can stay cool, have some cooler evenings and cooler mornings, it’ll help hold these things back.”