An article in Growing Produce this week quoted a USDA researcher speaking to WMAZ-TV of Macon on the peach harvest this year. The scientist, Tom Beakman, from the USDA Southeastern Fruit and Nut Tree Research Laboratory in Byron GA, said ‘We have never been so short (on chill hours). Hardly any of the commercial material that’s out at grower’s orchards was designed to deal with chill this low. We’ve never seen trees this low on chill before,” he said. “I haven’t, in my entire career, seen trees in some cases receive less than half the chill that they normally expect.” The mid-March frost also contributed to the low peach yields. However, the story did note that peaches would still be available, but there were be fewer than half the normal amount.
