Donnie Morris doesn’t describe the frigid weather of late
January and early February
the way many Georgians would. “I don’t know any other way
to say it: it’s just
wonderful,” Morris said.

For Morris’ more than 200 acres of blueberries near Baxley,
Ga., the almost constant
cold was exactly what they needed. “We need about 700
chill hours,” he said,
“and that’s about what we have now.”

Blueberries, peaches and other fruits need a certain number
of chill hours, or hours
below 45 degrees Fahrenheit, between Oct. 1 and Feb. 15. In the
heart of blueberry
country, Alma, Ga., had 790 chill hours as of Feb. 6.

Winter Just in
Time

For Morris and other growers, the hard winter came just in
time. “Three weeks ago
the situation looked grim,” said Gerard Krewer, a small
fruits specialist with the
University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences.

“Before the ‘great chill,’ the weather had been so
mild,” Krewer said.
“The low-chill varieties of Southern highbush and
rabbiteye blueberries were on the
verge of an extremely early bloom. They would have been in
great danger of freeze
damage.”

Almost all of the state’s 4,400 acres of blueberries are in
south Georgia. But from
mid-January through the first week of February, though, the
chill hours in the area
mounted fast.

‘It Was Like a
Miracle’

“We like to see 750 hours or more for most varieties,
and we’ve got that
now,” Krewer said. “The ‘great chill’ put the
low-chill varieties back into
dormancy and satisfied the higher-chill varieties’
requirements. It was like a miracle. We
couldn’t have asked for better weather.”

Blueberries will still bloom when chill hours are low,
Krewer said. But the blooming
will be strung out over a longer time. That makes it even more
vulnerable to late freezes
and makes it harder to control insects like thrips and gall
midges.

“The more compact blooming time you have when the chill
hour requirements are met
usually improves pollination, since more varieties are blooming
at the same time,” he
said.

Peaches Helped,
Too

The shivery days were a blessing to peach growers, too, said
UGA horticulturist Kathryn
Taylor.

“We had been behind in chill hours since
mid-December,” Taylor said.

“We’re still behind the 45-year average. But for most
varieties, we have enough chill
hours now to meet the minimum requirements.”

Peaches are more demanding than blueberries when it comes to
chill hours. Coming up
just 100 hours short can cause a major crop failure in many
varieties.

“We have varieties with chilling requirements ranging
from 400 hours up to 1,000
hours,” Taylor said. “We’re at about 900 hours at
Fort Valley now. That probably
takes care of 95 percent of our varieties.”

Growers would like to get the 100 hours or so the
highest-chilling varieties need.
“But even if we get no more chill hours,” Taylor
said, “most of our growers
will be happy campers.”

One of Two Nervous
Times

In south Georgia, where about 10 percent of the Georgia crop
is grown, Brooks County
has now had 670 chill hours. “That will take care of the
latest varieties,”
Taylor said.

Peach growers needed the cold weather badly, coming off a
year with very few chill
hours, which raised their production costs. “Last year we
were way behind,”
Taylor said. “We never got enough chill hours.”

This winter’s cold weather has gotten growers past one of
two nervous times in the
peach growing season.

“Now the buds are dormant and are just sitting there
‘counting’ heat units,”
Taylor said. “When they get enough heat units, they’ll
begin to swell and then start
blooming.”

When the flowering process starts, the blooms will be
susceptible to late frosts.
Temperatures 28 degrees and lower can cause serious damage to
peach blossoms and greatly
reduce the crop.

“Our growers will be holding their breath until
mid-April looking at frost
events,” Taylor said.