Fruit
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The recent heat has affected Georgia watermelon production in both positive and negative ways. One of the things it did was to hasten ripening, so that most of the crop is now ripe. This has led to a glut on the market now as everything is ripening at once, but the supply could be lower…
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Recently Modern Farmer posted a story that quotes me and UGA Peach Specialist Dario Chavez on how warming temperatures are affecting Georgia peaches and how that may change in the future. Fortunately, there are a variety of ways that peach farmers can use to help deal with warmer winters, late frost, and lack of chill…
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With the hot and dry weather that parts of the Southeast have had in the past month, pecan growers are working hard to make sure that their trees survive the less-than-ideal conditions. In this UGA Pecan blog post from May, Lenny Wells describes the impacts that recent weather have had on pecans this year. He…
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The impact the March 13 freeze event had on Georgia’s blueberry crop might be worse than expected, according to a recent article by Clint Thompson in Specialty Crop Industry. According to the article, the lingering effects of the freeze include diseases as well as fruit quality issues. Estimates were that 54 million pounds of blueberries…
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If you like peaches, you will be glad to know that the peaches are starting to be harvested in Georgia now. The harvest should last for the next couple of months because different varieties ripen at different times. The crop was reduced somewhat by the freeze in March, and that especially affected the earlier varieties,…
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Impacts from the spring frosts are continuing to show up in peach crops across the Southeast. This story from Specialty Crop Industry discusses the variety of sizes in early peaches in Alabama as likely caused by the frost damaging flowers in the early-blooming varieties. Less impact is showing up in the later-blooming varieties so far,…
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According to Clint Thompson in Specialty Crop Industry, recent cool and windy weather has slowed the development of young watermelon plants and caused some damage from sandblasting and plants twisted by the winds from recent storms. The farmers are looking forward to the nice warm and dry weather we are expecting in the next week…