Artic blast good for Georgia peaches

MUSELLA - Peach growers in Georgia and South Carolina are welcoming the blast of arctic air that is bringing freezing weather to much of the South this week. <br> <br> Peach trees -- along with blueberry and blackberry bushes -- are getting the chill hours they need to produce bountiful crops. Chill hours are those periods below 45 degrees. <br> <br> Now growers have one more hurdle before the harvest -- the possibility of a damaging spring freeze. <br> <br> Peach grower Robert Dickey Junior of Musell -- west of Macon -- says fall and winter have been ideal for peaches so far. But he says now farmers are beginning to worry about spring frost. <br> <br> As he puts it, ``You can&#39;t keep farmers from worrying about the elements.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Dickey and his son -- Robert Dickey the Third, chairman of the Georgia Peach Commission -- are major growers in central Georgia. That&#39;s where the bulk of Georgia&#39;s peach crop is grown. <br> <br> A fruit and vegetable specialist with the South Carolina Department of Agriculture -- Martin Eubanks -- agreed conditions have been ideal for peaches this year. <br> <br> Eubanks says last year South Carolina growers lost about 40 percent of the crop because of the unusually warm weather, a late freeze and drought.