Peach Crops Will Benefit from the Cold Winter
Tyler Southard
Story Created:
Mar 2, 2010 at 4:45 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Mar 3, 2010 at 9:54 AM EDT
Although Central Georgia is experiencing the 5th coldest start to the year on record since 1930, local peach growers are welcoming the chilly weather.
Abel Aguylar a Farm Supervisor at Lane Orchards says, "This years been a very good season cold weather season right now we're in, the thirteen hundred hours the chill hours and that's perfect for peaches."
The cold weather allows for the peach tree to enter its dormant stage. The more hours of "sleep" the tree receives, the faster the spring bloom will be. However, too much cold can be a bad thing.
President of Lane Southern Orchard, Duke Lane Jr. says "The thing we're worried about every year is whether not we're gonna get late unusual cold weather in late March"
In the spring of 2007 the area experienced a damaging cold snap.
Lane continues to recount one cold episode. "At six o'clock the temperature was 24 degrees and they stayed there for the better part of three to four hours. A peach which normally you can take a knife and slice right through it was like a cube of ice. I mean it was frozen rock solid."
On the other hand, and early prolonged heat wave can send the peach growth into full throttle.
Workers are now making the final preparations to ensure you'll see plenty of sweet peaches at your local grocery store this summer.
Aguylar describes the process of pruning. "Pruning a tree is an art. We got quite a bit of people that try to prune a tree. Not everyone can do it, they got to make a quick decision what to leave behind and what to cut."
If the weather cooperates these branches will soon be in full bloom.
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