Fruit
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An article earlier this week in Fruit Growers News noted that peaches in South Carolina had dodged a bullet in the recent cold snap and were doing OK so far with mostly some light thinning. But the weather tonight could bring more potentially damaging cold air into the region, and it is still a few…
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WCJB-TV in Gainesville FL reported earlier this week on the terrible hail which fell in Florida North Central Florida. The heavy hail hit and damaged many young watermelon plants, damaging stems and potentially delaying or even destroying a lot of this year’s crop. This region produces roughly one-third of Florida’s watermelon crop every year, roughly…
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The Packer published an interesting story this week about problems that Florida peach producers are having in peach production. Because Florida is so warm, they need to use special varieties of peaches that have low chill-hour requirements compared to peaches in Georgia and South and North Carolina. But the warm conditions over winter the last…
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Here’s an audio story on the huge decreases in pecan production that happened in 2018 due to the impacts of Hurricane Michael (as well as Irma in 2017, which also blew down a lot of trees). In Georgia it cut the production from 105 million pounds in 2017 to 56 million pounds in 2018, and…
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The Weather Channel recently released this 11-minute video which talks to farmers in southwest Georgia about their experiences with the aftermath of Hurricane Michael and what it has meant for their life and future as farming families. How have they been able to cope with the economic losses sustained in the storm and what are…
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I ran across this useful chart from Utah State University on the temperature thresholds that cause damage to a variety of fruit trees. It summarizes how different stages of fruit production from bud to flower are affected by freezing temperatures. You might find it useful as well. You can see it here.
Posted in: Fruit -
Valentine’s Day is always a big deal for strawberry producers who want to sell lots of chocolate-covered, juicy berries to lovers across the country. This year’s harvest in both California and Florida have been hampered by bad weather, which has delayed harvest. In California, cold and wet weather has damaged ripe fruit in the fields…