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By THERESA REYNOLDS
Rappahannock Nnn Staff Writer
Along with the mothers breathing a sigh of ralief as school starts this week are local peach growers slowing down as they ease into the final weeks of peach season.
Growers here have had a good season, according to Rap Owings, Agricultural Extension Agent for the county. "We haven’t seen record-breaking yields or any devastating damage to the peach crop.” Owings said. “It's just been a normal, productive year.”
Owings said that despite a June with very little rainfall, a wet spring and good overall rainfall contributed to the success of this year's crop.
"Peaches also need a bunch of •■eal hot days.” Owings saiu. The heat, when combined with humidity levels that aren’t too high, means large peaches and less of the diseases that plague growers when days are wet and nights are cool.
The weather does play a big part in deciding the fate of the peach grower, especially at high elevations and in a relatively northern climate like that of Rappahannock County. A late frost or killing winter temperatures can wipe out an orchard in spite of modern science and careful management. Owings said that the best possible place to put a peach orchard is "somewhere where your peaches will live when all the other orchards freeze.”
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