PEACHES MAKE DEBUT; AREA CROP SHOULD BE SUPERB

Peach production in Missouri may be down this year, but the 7.5 million to 8 million pounds expected to be harvested should still make for a good crop.

"We've had two great years of more than 9 million pounds," said Dave Enslie of the Missouri Agricultural Statistical Service at Columbia. "Even with a slight decrease, this is still a good year for peaches."

It may not be a bumper-crop year for peaches in Illinois, but the 1999 crop is expected to be bigger than last year's better-than-average crop there.

Orchards around Southeast Missouri have reported big, juicy, deeply colored fruit. "And the taste is great," said David Diebold of Diebold Orchards Inc. near Benton.

"Weather conditions have been ideal for the peach crop," said Diebold. "We haven't had any prolonged periods of 95-degree weather, and we're looking to a crop ranging from normal to pretty good."

Some varieties are light, but others are heavy, said Diebold, who has been picking early peaches the past three weeks.

"We're winding up the red havens," he said. "We're looking now at the Lorings. We should have peaches through the last week of August."

Weather affects everything about the fruit: size, flavor and even the finish of the peaches.

Peaches have added more than $3 million to the Missouri economy the past two years.

Orchard owners in Southern Illinois have also begun picking early varieties of peaches, and by all indications this year's yield will be a good one.

Perfect weather conditions in southernmost Illinois are making up for losses in other parts of the state, said an associate professor of plant and soil science at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

Fruit growers in Jackson and Union counties of Illinois say the mild spring brought no frosts to kill peach buds, and the warm, dry summer so far has been perfect for peach trees.

That is not the case elsewhere in the state. Waves of winter cold damaged peach trees to the north in January.

Even so, growers expect to harvest very close to a full crop statewide, well over last year's 7,500 tons.

Larry Eckert, whose family operates pick-your-own orchards in the Belleville, Ill., area, said this summer's crop could be the best his family has had in 20 years.

In 1996, the peach crops at Eckert's and other orchards were a complete loss. It has steadily improved since.

Larry Flamm, another peach grower near Cobden, said the ideal weather conditions this summer should mean a more constant supply of fresh peaches throughout the summer. Different varieties mature at different times, he said.

Some of the varieties last year were a little light, but this year they are all full, said Flamm. "It looks like a bumper crop in our area."

The mild winter and spring do mean more work for growers both in Illinois and Missouri. Without harsh weather to kill off buds, some growers are taking to the orchards to thin out young buds before they have a chance to blossom into fruit.

Apples in the area have been a bit depressed but are still in pretty good supply. The apple harvest started in the area last month and will continue through mid-to-late August.