Fruit
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Growing Georgia reported that the Georgia Farm Bureau is expecting a bumper crop of peaches this year. Even though December was very warm, cold temperatures in January and late February brought enough chill hours to get the peach trees ready to bloom, and a feared late frost did not materialize, leading to good production for…
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Growing Georgia had an interesting video this week on the current harvest of blueberries that is underway now in the southeast part of the state, centered on Alma. The featured grower noted that damage from wind and hail in a recent severe storm damaged about one percent of his crop due to blemished fruit. But…
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Eastern Washington State is one of the premier growing regions for sweet cherries in the world, possessing both good soils and climate. But cherries have weather vulnerabilities that can cause severe loss of fruit. While frost is not an issue this year, rain just before harvest begins can cause a degradation in the fruit, causing…
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Even though California needs rain to combat the multi-year drought they’ve been experiencing, rain at the wrong time can hurt the production of fruit and other crops. The Packer noted this week that rain in California delayed the harvest of cherries in parts of the state and heavy rains and temperature fluctuations in early May…
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Weather Underground posted a story today about how one winery owner in Virginia uses a personal weather station to help manage his vineyards. It shows the benefits of having hyper-local weather data so you know exactly what is happening in your own fields. You can read the story here. Weather Underground collects weather data from many…
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The Packer noted this week that the cherry harvest in the Pacific Northwest will be record-setting for some producers. They attribute this to a warm spring which hastened blooming of cherry trees and helped set a lot of fruit quickly. You can read the article here.
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In a previous post I noted some of the areas of the world that were feeling the effect of El Niño in contributing to regional droughts. Today I highlight the impact of heavy rains (also affected by El Niño) that are hurting the harvest of crops around the world. According to AgWeb here, “Argentina, the top…