Freeze Warning: Peach crops at risk in Middle Georgia

MUSELLA, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – With temperatures dropping this week, farmers are at the edge of their seats.

Freezing temperatures could damage peach crops. Dickey Farms co-owner, Lee Dickey, Thursday night has the opportunity to cause a lot of damage.

“This is certainly around the temperatures where you can get some damage,” said Dickey. “There’s so many variables. How much cloud cover there is, what the wind speed is, what the duration of the cold is, if there’s frost or not and how much.”

Wednesday night, it was recorded that the temperature dropped to 29 degrees.

“I mean it’s expected if you’re growing peaches in the Southeast,” said Dickey. “This is certainly one of the variables that you have to deal with, this spring weather.”

The cold could destroy several blooms, but Dickey is hopeful it won’t be catastrophic.

“There’s hundreds, lots and lots of blooms,” said Dickey. “You may only end up, by the time we’re done thinning, you only have one to two peaches on this branch.”

While waiting to see what damage is done, Dickey and his workers will do what it takes to protects their crops.

“We’ll run some irrigation,” said Dickey. “Groundwater is warmer than the air, so that will, in some cases, hopefully bring temperatures up just a hair.”

Despite not knowing what could happen, Dickey is staying optimistic.

“It may have a little later start, or have a few less peaches, but I don’t think it will be a complete disaster,” said Dickey.

It takes about a day or so for some of the damage to show up. Peach harvest begins in mid-May, but it may be a little earlier this year if the weather stays warm after this cold front.