Fruit
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According to The Packer, Florida is the first state in the US to have ripe, marketable peaches each year. Their short season begins near the end of March and goes into May. With good chill hours this year, they are expecting one of the best crops in the last five years. You can read more…
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The Packer published a heartbreaking video from the Texas Farm Bureau this week which showed some of the destruction of vegetable and citrus crops in Texas due to last month’s frigid temperatures. Losses are estimated to be at least $600 million, although could be more since they don’t know yet if the citrus trees will…
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This week The Packer published a story about how weather was affecting strawberry production in Florida. Cooler weather has delayed the ripening of the berries, allowing them to grow bigger than usual. However, production issues in other areas reduced supplies for Valentine’s Day so the Florida strawberries were being eagerly awaited. You can read more…
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Now that fruit crops have received plenty of chill hours, farmers are starting to think about what they might have to do if an average or late frost brings killing temperatures back to the Southeast. Unfortunately, once the blooms arrive, options for protection are limited. You can read about some of the options in Vegetable…
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Now that Texas is thawing out from its bitter cold blast, producers are starting to come to terms with what they have lost from the frost and snow as well as from loss of power and water. Here are several stories about agricultural losses in Texas and other parts of the central US from the…
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With the cold weather we have been having in the Southeast (although it is nothing compared to Texas and the central US), the number of chill hours that our fruit crops have received this year is quite a bit more than last year, although still below the long-term average amounts. That means that most varieties…
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With all of the cold air this year, chill hours for fruit are in good shape, and I’ve been told by peach experts that the buds are already swelling in the orchards, although they are not yet blooming. A good warm spell will probably be enough to break dormancy. But because we are not past…