I just heard about this on the radio. Apparently the regular peaches did not get enough chill hours, and the buds on the low chill hour varieties got hit with a late freeze. Looks like this year Georgia peaches are not going to make it to the supermarkets.
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I am eating peaches from Chilton County Alabama. No idea what happened in GA, but looks like there will be a crop in Alabama.
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Here in my area there’s crazy range on peaches from zero to moderate to overloaded. I have a moderate crop while 5 or 6 miles away, in very slightly warmer sites there aren’t any peaches. I also have nectarines which of the varieties I grow are more cold tender, at least after first growth. Further upstate NY and most of New England, the crop was wiped out except maybe areas with huge water influence.
I got down to around -7 and it was a breezy freeze so maybe those sites near me got the same low but maybe the trees weren’t as hardened off as mine because of the “better” location.
Warming weather brings a whole host of new lessons
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My son here in N IL has peach trees, and his have a nice set. 10 miles south, my nects set almost nothing.
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“The Peach State” is more of a romantic term i think.
Last year Cali produced 475K tons, S. Carolina Produced 67K tons, and Georgia produced 25K tons.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution thought that South Carolina peaches tasted better.
“The larger South Carolina peach was plump and drippy when I bit into the flesh. The floral aroma tickled my tongue and I tasted hints of nectar and honey. The Georgia peach had a less pronounced flavor and was less juicy.”
China Produces 16 Million Tons of peaches per year… does that make China “The Peach Country”?
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Commercial peaches are grown to be certifiably shitty. There is a direct, linear correlation between large crop production and end sweetness of the fruit. Simply put at prices the US consumer is willing to pay producers take quantity over quality.
When I was in Japan I remember buying a perfect looking large peach at the local fish market. It looked beautiful, it was expensive, and I got it on a whim because it was so pretty. I made the mistake of taking a bite half way home; I turned around right then and there and got me half a case. What’s funny about that is peaches are not even one of my favorite fruits.
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That’s just silly infotainment. Quality can vary greatly tree to tree, on the same tree, orchard to orchard, variety to variety, season to season, ripeness at time of picking and so forth and so on. Doesn’t make a great story for the average person if you make it genuinely informative.
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When a peach ripens has a huge influence on flavor. Carolina Gold ripens late mid-season which is in the middle of the heat of summer. It can develop superb flavor under good care. Earlier maturing peaches usually deal with colder conditions and rarely develop exceptional flavor.
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We haven’t had a Great peach year since the early 00s. They’ve ranged from OK to disastrous. It’s either not enough chill hours, or a late frost that swoops down from the North. The farmers have been switching to low chill varieties, but then they bloom early and get zapped.
Peaches have been on the decline for decades now. Climate and pest issues make peaches harder every decade. Georgia should really be the Blueberry state by now. Most farmers have switched to Blueberries, Olives, or Citrus to diversify…
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Blueberries generated an estimated $94 million for Georgia growers in 2012, meaning the blueberry crop was more than three times as valuable as the nearly $30 million peach crop.
Georgia is #2 in blueberry production in the US. 92 million lbs.
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Here in NYS Flavor May often develops into a world class peach and is ripe by the last week of June. Peaches I grow that ripwn over a week later, like Harrow Diamond and Desiree, have been bland by comparison in the few years I’ve been harvesting FM.
Gold Dust is another CA developed peach with excellent flavor that ripens over a week before Redhaven here- quite a bit later than FM but still considered an early peach here.
The problem with both GD and FM is a lack of consistent heavy cropping which in Gold Dust’s case, at least, may lend to its higher brix. FM may benefit from relatively smaller size although it isn’t tiny.
Of course, I’m in a much different place and days here are much longer than where you are by June… That may enhance the ability of earlier peaches to get higher brix, which is really the largest single factor in peach quality by my palates telling. For peaches here the difference between about 12brix and 14 is huge in a peach and the reason I like nectarines better is that they run a few points higher. A couple of the newer low-acid types can get up to 28 brix here but I’ve not had any low acid peaches that achieve high enough brix to merit swallowing.
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Bad winter / spring. Not enough chill hours, December freeze, and real late frost. Perfect storm.
My peaches are better than both. I am guessing most others here can say the same. I have the ability to pick just a few peaches per day at optimal ripeness. Any commercial orchard will pick the whole tree or the whole row or the whole orchard.
Not the small ones that sell fruit directly to the public.
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