Local Market Hopeful For This Year’s Peach Crop

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Spring-like temperatures seem to be a good news for this year’s peach crop.

Winter is a very important time for peach trees as they need a certain amount of dormant time or “chill hours”. The peach crop wont be ripe for picking for a few more months, but in Chilton County many of the tree’s flowers have already started to bud.

After a difficult harvest last year, Mark Gray co-owner of Peach Park in Clanton, said that so far this year’s peach crop is shaping up to be far better than last year’s. “Everything looks really good” he explained  “we’re anticipating it being a really good season”.

While things are looking up for Chilton County peaches in February, Gray says that as more flowers begin to bloom a cold snap later this year could still mean bad news.  “If it got down into the low freezing temperatures and stayed there for an extended amount of time, or for even three or four hours, that could be devastating” said Gray.

In Alabama, the peach crop is expected to peak around mid-June through early August.