Fruit
-
The weather last winter gave peach growers frustrating conditions in Georgia and Alabama. A cold November 2021 brought plenty of chill hours to the Southeast. Then an early warm-up caused the early blooming varieties of fruit trees to flower earlier than usual. But temperatures down to the 20s on March 13 caused significant loss of…
-
All the wet conditions in the Southeast have brought another hindrance to our farmers–the lack of sunshine associated with high humidity and cloud cover as we get round after round of rain. The lack of sunshine is causing problems for farmers that need the sun’s energy to finish off crops like corn and pecans. Here…
-
You might remember last spring that we had accumulated enough chill hours early in the winter that fruit trees and bushes were ready to bloom as soon as a warm spell came. And then a couple of late frosts destroyed a significant number of the blooms and young fruit after they flowered. The effects of…
-
The dry weather has had many impacts on our Southeast farmers this year. One of the consequences is that while disease pressure has been fairly low, the pests are out in full force. This is true for almost every crop. This story by Clint Thompson in Specialty Crop Industry discusses how the drought is affecting…
-
Lenny Wells of the University of Georgia posted an interesting story in his Pecan Blog a couple of weeks ago on the impacts of heat on pecan trees when temperatures were so warm. It turns out that pecans can do well in very high temperatures as long as they have the right amount of water.…
-
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…
-
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…