Good rains and a promising bloom look to make up for last year's drought-affected peach crop in Texas. Volumes are anticipated to be higher than last year, and picking may begin a few weeks earlier than normal.“We've got a good bumper crop,” says Frank Davis, president of the Fredericksburg Peach Company. “We've had a good winter, good rain, tree bloom looks good, and volume looks like it should be up from last year.” He anticipates production to be up by about a third, but admits that last year's figures were low due to low rainfall.
This year's volume is not expected to be affected by low rainfall, but if the next month is especially dry it could affect sizing, according to Roger Crenwelge of Crenwelge Peaches.
“We had a drought last year,” he says, “but if we get enough moisture this year, the fruit should be fine. If there's not enough water, the fruit won't size well.”
Jamey Vogel, owner of Vogel Orchard and president of the Hill Country Fruit Council in Texas, predicts the season could start a little early this year.
“We are a little early right now,” he notes, “but it's kind of slowed down. We initially thought we'd start picking around the first of May, but now we think it will be about a week later.” Harvesting normally begins around the third week in May.
Vogel also believes output will rebound this year, and that's a good thing, considering the lackluster year they had in 2011. And although the state's output is nowhere near the production levels for California or Georgia, the nation's leading peach-producing states, the upcoming season should bring good news for growers.
“The important thing this year is the turnaround,” he says. “We had a tremendous drought last year and this year the trees have recovered well. We won't have the kind of crop we had in 2010, but it should still be good.”