For fruit producers, one year’s weather event can be felt the next season. Or the next. Growers in Illinois have been experiencing such a phenomenon, as repercussions of the drought of 2012 linger. Chris Eckert recently discussed the topic at a tree-fruit conference here.

“We still are dealing with the drought hangover of 2012,” said Eckert, president of Eckert Orchards of Belleville.

“2012 was a devastating year for us, weather-wise,” he said. “It really affected peaches more than any of our other crops. As a result of that, we didn’t get a lot of shoot growth in 2012 and very weak buds going into the 2013 winter. Fortunately, we got a little rain at the end of 2012. I think it could have been a tree-killing episode if we hadn’t had that rain.

“2013 was a good year, but not what I would say a record year in terms of quality of production. It was not a heavy thinning crop year. Drought is unusual for us.”

Orchards planted since 2009 got a slow start and were behind in development, though trees are rebounding now, Eckert said.

“All the rain last year helped our young orchards get up for production,” he said. “Today the trees look better than they have in the past four or five years. It’s been a tough slugfest since 2011. What that’s going to translate into for us is a lot of bloom thinning because we’ve got a lot of buds on the trees.”

The excessive precipitation last year created more headaches for Eckert...

Source - http://www.freshplaza.com