This picture is actually from March 15th frost, but we had a little bit of a frost this morning too. With Easter just a week away, this maybe the last one. We had an inch or more of rain Sunday/Monday and it has slowed us in the field a little bit laying plastic. Though we’ll get our watermelons transplanted next week still and keep rolling.
If anything this winter, we have sure seen some better chill hours. It’s actually been not one, but two years since we had this kind of cold weather. We really need these chill hours for our fruit crops, as well as for killing off some nematodes and insects. After last season with whiteflies, we need it as cold as it can get to kill adults and maybe some immatures.
The below graph is from the Georgia Weather website and shows the chill hours (below 45 degrees) from October 1 to March 23 this winter and comparing the last 3 winters: