Brad Haire
University of Georgia
The weather has been good, almost too good, for one of Georgia’s
sweetest crops, says a University of Georgia expert.
Georgia’s peach crop has had the weather it needed to grow well
this year. Shoppers can expect plenty of large, pretty peaches,
says Kathryn Taylor, a horticulturist with the UGA College of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. It’s one of the best
peach crops in years.
“Georgia’s peach trees are producing very large fruit due to the
spring and summer rains,” she said. And, due to the relatively
cool spring, “fruit color has been better than in recent years.”
But those same heavy rains, it seems, have also caused some
problems.
Best fruits later
The rain has diluted the sugar content of the early fruits,
“making them seem less flavorful,” she said. “But we expect the
later fruit to have better flavor, as late fruit usually does.”
The rain has also increased the potential for fungal diseases on
the fruit.
Peaches are more prone to develop fungal rot and can have a
shorter shelf life. But growers are taking extra measures, she
said, to prevent rot and remove suspect fruit during packing.
“It seems that every good event in agriculture has its cost,” she
said.
Almost all of the crop is in good to fair condition right now,
according to the Georgia Agricultural Statistics Service.
Harvest going strong
Middle Georgia growers produce about 90 percent of the state’s
peach crop. South Georgia growers produce the rest. South
Georgia’s harvest is coming to an end, but farmers in middle
Georgia will harvest into the first week of August.
Georgia’s chilly winter got the peaches off to a good start for
this harvest.
Peaches need so many chill hours (below 45 degrees) during the
winter. Depending on the variety, they need from 400 to about
1,000 chill hours to perform well during the growing season, she
said. Middle Georgia got more than 1,300 hours.
(Brad Haire is a news editor with the University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)
