chappellpeaches.com Blog

Peaches were hurt significantly by yesterday morning’s freeze.  Temperatures ranged from 25 degrees on the hills to 19 degrees in the low spots.  The wind laid down around 3 a.m. which plummeted the temps.  We ran two wind machines from 3 till 8:00.  There seems to be a better crop around the wind machines.  Late blooming varieties also seem to have survived better.  Many varieties are wiped out.  It will take a week or two to get a good estimate, but I think a 40 percent crop might be optimistic.  I will give a report in a week on which varieties survived.

The weather forecast is calling for a hard freeze tonight with lows in the mid to low twenties.  We are concerned of course, but there could be several factors in our favor.   This will be a one night event.  Often these cold blasts will go on for several nights.  The peaches are slightly past full bloom and they are pretty tough in this stage.  The most important factor will be the wind.  Most forecast predict wind all night.  If this occurs it will help the situation.  If the wind lays and we plunge below 25 degrees there will be considerable damage.  Check back later for an update.

We have been busy on the farm with the temperatures rising.  This week we’ve applied fertilize to all the trees and finished the first herbicide application.  Irrigation lines have been laid under newly planted trees.  The major pruning is over, but we are going back over some varieties and removing a little more wood.  This can be a little risky if a freeze comes, but if we don’t it could be more costly to thin the fruit off.  The long range forecast is good right now, but the first two weeks of April always causes concern.  Check back later for more farm news.