Fruit
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While the weather lately has been fairly mild, there has been enough cold weather over the winter that most fruit trees have received sufficient chill hours to be ready to bloom once we get warm for long enough. In fact, some very early varieties have already started to blossom, according to reports from some South…
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Chill hours are generally low in Florida because it is so far south that it does not often experience temperatures below 45 F. But in the past few years, the chill accumulation has been even lower than average, resulting in challenges to peach producers there. That does not mean they can’t be grown, but the…
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I’ve been getting a few emails asking about the current warm weather and if it is likely to continue since growers are concerned about bud break if the warm weather continues. I put a thermograph of daily temperatures for Blairsville below to show how temperatures have changed over time. On the thermograph, the green band…
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A combination of bad weather and insects has made the price of orange juice skyrocket for a second year. Citrus greening has been a problem in Florida for a number of years and up to 90% of orchards in Florida have been affected by the disease, leading to reductions in yield. Farmers in Georgia and…
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Even though Georgia is known as the Peach State, there are many other fruit crops that are important agricultural products for the state. Blueberries is the biggest contributor to the state’s agricultural production, but other crops are also starting to gain traction in the state, too. This recent article from WSB radio discusses the booming…
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Rising temperatures across the country and the world are changing the patterns of warm and cold temperatures over the year. This is resulting in fewer days with very cold temperatures and longer periods that are suitable for the development of insect pests. A recent study by USDA scientists looked at the effects of these climate…
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In the Southeast, blueberries are typically a summer crop because flower organs are formed when days are short in the fall and then flower in the spring, according to a recent article in Growing Produce. However, blueberry growers have noticed that not all plants follow this trend, indicating that they are not sensitive to light…