By Sharon Omahen


University of Georgia

Besides all the downed limbs and debris it left behind, Georgians
can thank Hurricane Frances for increased pecan prices this
season and higher peach prices next year, University of Georgia
experts report.

Pecan and peach trees statewide suffered significant damage from
Frances’ heavy winds. Both lost limbs, and some were uprooted.
Georgia pecan growers are also reporting the loss of a large
percentage of nuts.

Supply will be down

“This will create a scarcity of nuts this season and the pecan
prices are bound to go up,” said Greg Fonsah, an agricultural
economist with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences. “The nuts lost due to the storm will cause a reduction
in production.”

Fonsah says Georgia pecan growers were doubly impacted by the
hurricane.

“We lost several trees and nuts,” he said. “The trees will cost
money to replace. But it will cost farmers even more when they
plant new trees and wait for them to start bearing. Some farmers
might not have or find enough trees to purchase for replanting or
replacing the uprooted ones.”

This year’s peach crop was spared. But next year’s will be
affected.

“The lost trees will affect the next peach crop period,” Fonsah
said. “The damage, if significant, will create a reduction in the
2005 crop and
will most likely cause prices to be higher, too.”

Fonsah says there is also a chance that trees with broken
limbs will become vulnerable to pest and disease infestations.

“This is especially possible in south Georgia where disease
pressure is high,” he said. “If this happens, it will cost
Georgia farmers additional money for chemical sprays to keep the
pest and disease pressure under control.”

Homeowners in clean-up mode

The hurricane also affected homeowners across the state, who will
remember its name for weeks as they clean up the debris it left
behind.

Thousands of trees are lost each year as a result of ice, wind
and lightning damage, said UGA horticulturist Orville Lindstrom.
The resulting annual property value loss in Georgia is estimated
at more than $10 million. And this doesn’t include future
liability costs.

“When hardwood trees are injured, a branch will break off, there
will be some decay and maybe a weak insect attack,” said
Lindstrom, a UGA CAES professor. “The damage usually won’t kill
hardwoods because the trees have such a good food reserve in the
root system.”

Pine trees are another story.

“If Frances’ heavy winds caused your pine trees to lose a big
section of the top or the main stem, you probably don’t have many
alternatives other than taking the tree out,” he said. “Pine
trees don’t store a lot of food in the root system. So when they
get injured, they don’t have as much to fall back on.”

Besides injuring the tree’s structure, a large break in a pine
tree’s top opens a virtual buffet for harmful insects.

“The pine resin starts to come out and sends an open invitation
to bark beetles,” he said. “They’re extremely hard to control,
and there aren’t any really effective sprays.”

Bark beetles fly in, bore through the tree’s bark and lay eggs
underneath. There the larvae form feeding galleries and introduce
a fungus called blue stain. This causes the tree to dry out and
eventually die.

If the recent storm left your pine trees with just broken
branches, the prognosis is much better.

“Properly prune the branches back to the whorl or main stem,”
Lindstrom said. “Then you can do a good job of keeping that tree
healthy. You’ll need to clean up and prune off any broken
branches without destroying the form of the tree.”