2015 peach season comes to a close

Published 2:09 pm Friday, August 14, 2015

Chilton County Research and Extension Center Director Jim Pitts said he anticipates some varieties of peaches will be available into the first week of September. (Photo by Whitney Denson)

Chilton County Research and Extension Center Director Jim Pitts said he anticipates some varieties of peaches will be available into the first week of September. (Photo by Whitney Denson)

The 2015 peach season is quickly coming to a close with this year’s crops being deemed a “good year.”

“I think when you look at the season as a whole, it was just real good,” Chilton County Research and Extension Center Director Jim Pitts said. “We had a cool spring, but we didn’t have a lot of the wet weather like we did last year. The wet weather last year really hurt us.”

Although Pitts anticipates some varieties of peaches could be available into the first week of September, he said many of the varieties have finished growing for the year.

“There are still a few varieties such as the Fair Time, Parade and August Prince that will be available,” Pitts said. “Those are typically some of the later varieties, and people will still be able to find those until the first of September.”

Pitts said the heavy rainfall at the beginning of the season did cause insects to become a nuisance to many farmers, but overall, there was a good amount of sun and rain.

Earlier in the season, Pitts estimated roughly $1 million would be generated for the economy by the end of the season.

Included in the estimation were farmers buying fuel, tires, sprays, fertilizer and other materials needed for harvesting.

“We definitely did better than last year,” Pitt said. “ Last year, we probably didn’t have about 25-35 percent of the crop. This year, we had about 60-70 percent, so we almost doubled our crops this year. We had good sized peaches, and we didn’t have the weather issues like we did last year.”

Pitts said a factor in helping Chilton County’s peach season in 2014 was crops in Georgia and South Carolina struggling.

“We were able to sell our peaches at a great price, because the ones in Georgia and South Carolina really struggled,” Pitts said. “This year, they didn’t have the best year either, so that really helped us. They had a really hard freeze around March 28-29 that hurt them. We were able to get by with that freeze, so we weren’t as bad off as some of the farmers in Georgia and South Carolina.”

Peach crops typically need to log roughly 1,200 chill hours for the season.

Chill hours are counted by the Extension, which measures the amount of hours peach trees spend under 45 degrees for one complete hour, or a chill hour.

Pitts said the chill hours are necessary in order to produce a sufficient crop.

Peach trees must be exposed to cold weather in order to keep buds from opening too early, which prevents the buds from being damaged by being exposed to a potential late freeze.

“Overall, we had a good season this year,” Pitts said. “We had some tasty peaches, and people seemed to enjoy them.”