Southeast Missouri peach orchards expect strong crop this year

DOGWOOD, Mo. — Of the 700 peach trees in Mike Leible's eight-acre orchard, only one peach was edible last year.

"There were three of us out there. We brought it in the house. We blessed it and ate it. It was the best peach we had," said Leible, owner of Dogwoods Orchards in Mississippi County.

Despite last year's three-day long freeze in April, the peach tree and other fruit tree populations are alive and budding, Leible said.

"I've had people asking if I'm going to having any peaches. Some were thinking the freeze (last year) actually killed the trees. All I lost is the crop. The trees are doing fine," said Leible.

All growers could do was let Mother Nature take its course, Leible said.

"We're coming into this year it's as if one year got swept under the rug," Leible said.

Located about three miles south of Bertrand off Highway B, Leible's orchard was planted in 2001. Its first harvest occurred in 2003.

"They're blooming well. We had a lot of trouble getting them pruned this year because it's just rained and rained. But we finally did it and it's latest we've ever done it. Usually pruning is finished by January and definitely by the middle of February. This year he was cutting up until the middle of March," Leible said.

The pruning allows better airflow for the tree's limbs, Leible said.

"A peach gets its flavor from the sun, and that's why we have to prune so vigorously," Leible said.

Leible said he grows 17 different varieties of peaches including three white peach varieties. White peaches are a little sweeter and more perishable than a yellow flesh peach.

"It [different varieties] lets you have a continued flow of ripened fruit throughout the 10-week harvest period which is from the very end of June through month of August," Leible said.

Last year was the first year in David Diebold's lifetime that a peach crop was completely lost to a frost.

"Normally a frost will thin a peach crop," said Diebold, owner of Diebold's Orchard in Benton.

Diebold recalled one year when temperatures got down to 24 degrees on April 17.

"We had about one-fourth of a crop, which for retail is not bad. For wholesale it's devastating," Diebold said.

Because there wasn't a crop last year, trees grew more than normal this year and more pruning had to be done. Also because there wasn't a crop, there are more buds this year, Diebold said.

"At the moment the prospects are excellent," Diebold said. "They're still early and starting to bloom. It should be a normal season. The freeze would have to hit about a week later to do what it did last year. My expectation is that we're guaranteed on peaches."

Meanwhile, Leible will continue to monitor his orchard until time for picking arrives.

"Every day is a new day out there," Leible said about his orchard. "If we would get rid of 37-degree weather, you could probably sit outside and hear them pop open."