Peach Producers Have Limited Options Against Late Freeze

 

Now that fruit crops have received plenty of chill hours, farmers are starting to think about what they might have to do if an average or late frost brings killing temperatures back to the Southeast. Unfortunately, once the blooms arrive, options for protection are limited. You can read about some of the options in Vegetable and Specialty Crop News at https://vscnews.com/peach-producers-frozen-georgia-alabama/. You can also find information about freeze protection for commercial fruits and vegetables in UGA Extension Bulletin 1479. So far, the long-range forecasts don’t show much chance of a widespread outbreak through early March in southern and lower elevation locations, but those forecasts can change a lot over time, so it is too soon to believe that frost is done for the year. With the effects of the Sudden Stratospheric Warming finally waning and a more typical La Nina-like pattern emerging, that does give us some hope that the really cold and wet weather is behind us.