Fredericksburg peaches free from February freeze

FREDERICKSBURG, Texas - Even if the weather doesn’t feel like it, It is mid-May in Central Texas and that normally means Fredericksburg peaches.  But with the brutal winter blast this past February you’d be forgiven if you expected the worst.  

But after a nice chat with Lindsey Jenshke of Jenscke Orchards, everything seems much better!  

"We haven’t seen this many peaches on our trees in several years!" says Jenschke, "so that’s pretty awesome!"  

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The temperatures dropped to 1° at Jenschke Orchards. Luckily the trees weren’t blooming so no peaches were lost.  Though the extreme cold did worry farmers.  

"When we got down that cold it was really a guessing game of is it going to do any damage? Some of us had never experienced that much cold and ice for that long of a period," Jenschke says.

Thankfully, the peach trees are a hardy bunch and came through with flying colors. Peaches need a certain amount of "chill hours" to produce fruit and this year they got all and then some.  

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The cold did have some negative effects but as of now, Jenschke says she hasn’t seen too much.  

"We are seeing some damage done to the trees as far as stress from the extreme cold." says Jenschke, "but [it’s] nothing that we can’t get through or manage."  

The biggest impact may ultimately come down to timing.  

Jenschke says the peaches ripening schedule has been delayed by about two weeks.  The full schedule can be seen on their website.