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Warm
Winter Weather Concerns Peach Growers
Chilton County, Jan.
25---The warm winter weather Alabama has enjoyed so far this
year has growers concerned about this year’s peach crop says Bobby
Boozer, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System horticulturist.
Boozer, who works out of
the Chilton County Regional Research and Extension Center (CRREC),
said central Alabama peaches had about 610 chill hours as of Jan.
15.
That’s not enough, and
if current weather patterns continue, the trees won’t get the
chill hours they need.
Chill hours are the
number of hours the temperature is below 45 degrees. Peach trees in
Alabama need between 350 to 1,050 chill hours from October through
February to grow properly.
If the peach trees don’t
have enough chill hours, the result is small or misshapen fruit,
weak trees and delayed blooming and leafing.
"The 46-year
average at CRREC is 831 chill hours between the first of October and
Jan. 15," Boozer said. "So we’re probably about 200 to
230 hours below the 46-year average in the center of the state.
Other areas of the state are running a little bit short on chilling,
as well. We could end up with about 75 percent of the total chilling
we need. Those affected in central Alabama would be the varieties
requiring 900 to 1,050 chill hours; the ones below 900 should not be
a problem. If the weather would stay normal, we can still pick up
the hours we need."
In 2000, Alabama’s
peach crops had just 562 chill hours by Jan. 15, but had 1,026 by
Feb. 15 – almost double the hours in just a month, Boozer said.
"But in 1999, we
had 547 chill hours by Jan. 15 and then only got up to 690 by Feb.
15," he said. "So you never know about the weather. This
year some varieties in the state might benefit from using Dormex."
Dormex, a product used
to break the tree’s dormancy period, must be applied several weeks
ahead of normal bloom.
"We’ll be looking
at it closely to make that call on what we need to do," Boozer
said.
Source: Bobby Boozer,
Horticulturist, Chilton Regional Research and Extension Center,
(205) 646-3610
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