When frigid temperatures hit the region around Christmas, most of us bundled up. By February, we had nearly forgotten about those temperatures. For one small group of Southern Illinoisans, those frigid temperatures could change their business outlook.

Southern Illinois farmers who grow peaches know how devastating those temperatures were to their peach crop.

Parker Flamm, manager of Flamm Orchards, and Wayne Sirles, owner of Rendleman Orchards, say the crop is looking better than they expected.

“It looks a little better. We think we will have peaches for our farm market,” Flamm said. “We are optimistic at this point and hoping for the best.”

Sirles said they are still evaluating the peach crop at Rendleman’s, saying it’s really hard to evaluate until you can see buds and fruit coming on.

“We’re still looking at everything. Our preliminary scouts show we’ve lost a significant portion of our wholesale crop, about 75%,” Sirles said. “I have plenty of peaches for our market.”

Wholesale crops of peaches are the fruit that is picked to ship to other locations. They are the local peaches that end up in grocery stores all over the country.

Both orchards also grow peaches that are sold directly to consumers through their markets.

The cold temperatures hit just before Christmas and hung around long enough to do damage to the crop. Flamm said the temperature on their farm was -4 degrees and the damage was pretty widespread.

Sirles said they will have a better idea of what the crop will look like in a week or two from now when the peach trees really begin to bloom.

“Things are looking better than a month ago. We can actually physically see buds that have pollinated,” Sirles said.

“A month ago, we thought it was a lot worse,” Flamm said. “Now, you can see buds starting to swell, a few more buds than we thought we had. It is by no means a large crop.”

Flamm’s will have peaches for their market and the peach products they sell to eat, but they might be limited to weekends. They remain hopeful that they will have enough peaches to open the market seven days a week.

Flamm said their apple crop looks fine, adding that apples are more winter-hardy.

Their strawberries were covered during the cold weather and seem to be fine, as of now.

Parker Flamm is the sixth generation of Flamm’s to work on the orchard.

Rendleman’s has plenty of peaches for their market. Sirles said they have enough that they may be able to sell a portion of them to smaller wholesale customers.

“We’re celebrating our 150th anniversary this year and want to have peaches for everybody,” Sirles said.

Rendleman’s will open for the season on June 24. A bell ringing ceremony is planned for June 28 to celebrate their anniversary.

“We’re excited about opening weekend. We’re hoping people will come and enjoy our celebration,” Sirles said.

Source - https://thesouthern.com