Cold snap too early to harm NE Ga. peach trees

UNDATED - Temperatures dipping into the teens over much of north Georgia on Thursday were mostly a good thing for crops, Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin said.

"In most cases it was beneficial," Irvin said. "We need a cold snap to kill off a lot of insects."

One major peach grower just north of Lula in Banks County said the freeze had no effect on his peach trees.

"I don't think it hurt us except that we are having trouble staying warm," said Jimmy Echols, who owns Jaemor Farm near Lula. "Our trees are completely dormant."

Echols said a peach crop requires about 1,000 chilling hours - temperatures at 40 degrees or below.

"That varies with various types of peaches, and that's cumulative" he said. "Trees won't break dormancy until we get that."

He said growers in north Georgia have no trouble getting the required chilling hours, but sometimes those in south Georgia do.

"It don't have to be this cold, though," he said. "It was 10 degrees on the farm this morning."

Echols like most peach growers in North Georgia lost most of last year's crop because of a Easter freeze. Many apple growers suffered the same fate.

Irvin said the unseasonably warm weather had his pasture "putting out a little bit, but it will stall after the freeze. It kind of nipped it back."

Irvin lives in Habersham County.

(AccessNorthGa.com's Ken Stanford contributed to this story.)