Fruit
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A recent article from UGA Extension discusses the 2021 pecan crop and how the weather adversely affected this year’s production. It includes the effect of the cold spring on pollination, wet conditions on the development of scab, and the cloudy conditions, especially late in the season, keeping the nuts from filling properly. You can read…
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The Texas freeze in February 2021 and the heat wave that hit the Pacific Northwest this past summer both had significant effects on fruit production in those regions. Here are a few stories that describe some of the issues they had. Growing Produce: Texas Citrus Crop on the Comeback Trail from Winter Storm Damage Citrus…
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Changes in the frequency of heavy rain and cold outbreaks have caused challenges for fruit growers in Michigan, where I grew up. Late cold outbreaks in spring have caused frost damage to some fruit like blueberries and peaches, and heavy rains have caused erosion and other issues for many orchards. There are some methods producers…
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How do you know how plants will respond to changes in climate? You try them out in different conditions to see how well they grow in a less than ideal climate and see whether or not they survive. Here is an interesting story from Atlas Obscura describing one testbed at the Wolfskill Experimental Orchards in…
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Bad weather this last year led to a smaller than expected pecan crop according to this story in the Southeast Farm Press this week. The crop got a lates start because of cool, erratic weather in the spring, which may have affected pollination. Rainy and cloudy weather through the summer caused problems with scab and…
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Growing Produce posted this story by John R. Clark earlier this week discussing the weather this past winter in the Southeast and its impacts on blackberries. While he found that the freeze in February did not do as much damage to the canes as he feared, the late frost in April in North Carolina hit…
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You might recall how hot it got last summer in the Pacific Northwest, with astoundingly hot temperatures. As you can imagine, it caused a lot of problems for fruit growers. Growing Produce published a story that described some of the impacts of the heatwave on their fruit production. The quotes and images are striking in…