Georgia peach season has been ‘a roller coaster’

GAINESVILLE, Ga. – Georgia peach growers say their growing season has been “a roller coaster” of weather that included cold snaps and drenching rain.

Despite the challenges, Drew Echols said he expects to salvage about 70 percent of the peach crop he manages for the peak summer season.

“You shoot for 100 percent, of course, but I’ve never been more proud of a 70 percent crop,” Echols said. “It could be worse. Matter of fact, we thought it would be worse.”

Echols is farm manager at Jaemor Farms in the Northeast Georgia town of Lula, The Times of Gainesville reported.

While peaches can’t withstand too much frost, fruit trees require a certain number of hours below 45 degrees Fahrenheit to break down growth inhibitors in buds, which allow them to produce fruit in the spring, according to a University of Georgia Agricultural & Environmental Services news release.

In that March report, extension agent Jeff Cook said Georgia’s peach crop might suffer this year because of insufficient chill hours.

WRCB meterologist Nick Austin said the winter in the Chattanooga region also was warmer than average.

“The Smokies had some snow, but here in Southeast Tennessee, there wasn’t much snow,” Austin said. “The daily average temperature was 5.7 degrees above average for the whole region, which is pretty warm.”

Alexander Makarov of Fitzgerald Fruit Farms in Woodbury, Ga., was at the Chattanooga Market on Sunday, and he said he expects to harvest 80-90 percent of his peach crop.

“It was kind of a hit or miss for us in Middle and South Georgia,” Makarov said. “The lack of colder weather meant nearly none of [the orchards] got enough chill hours for late-season peaches. Everyone should have enough early-season.”

In Ellijay, Ga., Andy Futch of R&A Orchard said his crop is fine, and he is expecting to harvest 80-100 percent of his peach crop.

“The weather’s been very favorable to us here in North Georgia,” Futch said. “We were just lucky this year. When the freeze came in March, we didn’t have anything that was bloomed out.”

But in South Carolina, farmers have not been as lucky.

The South Carolina Department of Agriculture reported that farmers are hoping to harvest only 10-15 percent of their crop this year. A sudden freeze in March after an unusually warm winter caused the peach trees to go into early bloom. This was the state’s worst crop loss in 10 years.

Harvesting of peaches at Jaemor Farms is expected to begin in early June, and the frost seen earlier this year might yield larger peaches, Echols said.

“I expect really good-sized peaches, because they did get thinned out so much in that frost,” Echols said. “People are going to get to buy big, pretty peaches this year, for sure. I don’t think we’re going to have small peaches.”

Peaches are Jaemor’s mainstay, but the farm has diversified over the years, growing strawberries, blackberries, muscadines, scuppernongs, concord grapes, watermelons, squash, tomatoes, zucchini and pumpkins. A fig crop was added this season.

Jaemor Farms lost a lot of strawberries during the freezes, Drew Echols said.

Still, strawberry production began picking up before it got hit again – this time by wet weather.

“Strawberries just don’t tolerate rain,” Drew Echols said. “About 1 1/2inches per week is about all I can handle. We can’t handle 3 and 4 inches a week, so we’ve been struggling the past two weeks.”

Staff writer Rosana Hughes contributed to this story.