Coastal: Zack Snipes reports, “Another great week of weather has things right on track. For the most part we are finished with strawberries and have maybe one more cutting of broccoli left in the field. We are in the middle of squash and zucchini harvest. The tomato crop looks great as plants have small green fruit with little to no disease. The blackberry crop is loading up. Diamondback moths continue to be an issue on late planted greens. Watch out for spider mites on tomato, melon, and blackberry crops this week.”
Midlands: Justin Ballew reports,”We had great weather last week. A storm came through Saturday evening and brought around an inch of rain. Strawberries are decreasing in size and we probably only have a couple weeks of harvest left. Once again, the rain caused a lot of damage to developing fruit. First planted sweet corn is now tasseling and is looking great. Tomatoes are blooming and fruit is starting to develop. Most other crops are doing well.”
Upstate: Kerrie Roach reports,”Things are coming along well in the Upstate with market producers just starting to see the beginning fruits of their labor. We should be ready to roll into farmers markets for Memorial Day weekend! Peach growers are finishing up hand thinning. Overall, they are a few weeks out still and have about 40% overall loss on some varieties from freeze damage. Early apple varieties such as the goldens and galas are showing about 25% loss, but later varieties like Mutsu, Pink Lady, and Arkansas Black look to be a full crop load!
This is from a recent research project looking at the value added potential in bottling mature fruit. Photo from Kerrie Roach
The South Carolina Grower 