Peach farmers say cold weather means better quality crops
By Zoe Blair
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CLANTON, Alabama (WVTM) — While many people are ready for the winter weather to go away, peach farmers at Durbin Farms are happy to see the freezing temperatures, saying it will help the quality of this year’s peach crop.
“This time of year is very beneficial for us,” owner Colby Jones said. “As you can see, our peach trees are in their dormant stage right now, they’re accumulating the chill hours which is really going to help them with production going into the spring and summer.”
Jones said the dormancy hours are extremely important.
“If they don’t get enough dormancy, production quality’s not going to be there, leaf production might not be there, and that’s going to affect everything in itself,” he said.
Jones said last year’s peach crop was the best in at least ten years. With this cold weather, there’s hope that this year’s will be just as good.
“It was close to some places were close to a 50-80% crop which is good, normally nobody even gets close to a 50% crop,” Jones said.
The weather is good for their peaches, but the freezing winds could be destructive for their strawberry plants.
“If they get that cold on them it can kind of damage the leaves and things like that and here in Chilton County, strawberries are a huge product for us,” Jones said.
They were able to cover their strawberry crop before the weather hit, so the plants will be safe during this cold snap. Jones said the biggest issue will be if another hard freeze hits closer to spring.
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