I love my job! I get to help people every day, work with some of the best farmers in Georgia, find the best fishing spots in the county when helping with pond questions, learn the best hunting spots when looking at food plots, and I get to enjoy some of my favorite fruit: blueberries and strawberries! Appling County is big in blueberries, but it’s also one of the top counties in strawberry production in Georgia.
According to a report from The Grower, consumers asked to pick their favorite fruits named strawberries most often, according to research by the California Strawberry Commission. Strawberries were named 43% of the time, followed by bananas, 42%; watermelon, 28%; apples, 24%; and grapes 24%.
Normally, strawberry harvest for Georgia really gets going in April. However, growing strawberries in a hoop house increases the heat units on the plant and brings them into production early. Some years strawberries in the hoop house could actually be harvested well before Christmas. This year with a much colder winter the harvest has been a little delayed, but fruit is being picked now and production should continue to increase until our hot weather arrives.
Strawberry growth is greatly affected by temperature and length of the daylight period. Runners or daughter plants are produced during the long days and warm temperatures of summer. In the short, cool days of fall, flower buds form within the plant crown. Berries begin to ripen four to five weeks after the first flowers open.
Over the past few weeks our blueberry spray research trials began. The results will be available at the end of the season.
One of the local pecan orchards is being thinned. Pecan trees need sunlight and once they reach a certain size they have to be thinned to maximize production. However, it still isn’t easy for pecan growers to take out trees this size.
Pecan wood is great to BBQ with, though!
Hungry yet?
I enjoy taking pictures on farms. I snapped this shot one morning as the sun was coming up.
