Fruit
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In another Vegetable and Specialty Crop News story, watermelon producers in South Florida are watching to see how recent cool and windy conditions will affect their newly planted seedlings. Rapid temperature changes and windy conditions can lead to more diseases which can affect the strength of the stems, leading to yield losses. Farmers in South…
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The colder temperatures this winter have made fruit producers happy as the accumulated chill hours have been very good for peach and blueberry production. Continued cold conditions for the next couple of weeks should help make most varieties meet their needed chill hours this year without too much trouble. The biggest concern at this point…
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At this time of year, fruit farmers are anxiously watching their chill hours to see if they have received enough cold weather to help their plants produce a good set of flower buds for spring bloom. In the past few years, some winters have been touch or go with having enough. Early this year, it…
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Here is a really interesting story about how citrus was brought back to Georgia as temperatures have increased over time. The crop was brought back by producers one by one, but is now growing rapidly as the climate becomes more suitable for citrus trees due to the rising temperatures. Citrus produced in Georgia can be…
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Citrus has a long history in Louisiana, where warm temperatures have produced a great area for the growth of citrus trees, especially near the Gulf Coast. But that location is bad for hurricanes, and in recent years citrus farmers have been repeatedly pummeled by the direct effects of the wind as well as the indirect…
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Even though the Atlantic tropical season is over for this year, we are continuing to see impacts from this year’s storms coming in. We are also still seeing impacts from the wet conditions that have occurred across parts of the region this year. Here are three stories which describe some recent impacts of this summer’s…
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With La Nina now firmly in place, producers are starting to think about what that means for crop and fruit production next year. We know that La Ninas tend to bring warmer and drier than normal weather to most of the Southeast, and this one is expected to be fairly strong, so all of the…