Middle Georgia’s strawberry season underway; peach prospects look promising

Lane Southern Orchards optimistic about strawberry yield, upcoming peach season

FORT VALLEY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — Spring is here, and with it comes strawberry season in Georgia.

Tyler Wainwright, the farm manager at Lane Southern Orchards, says the season is looking good so far. He says the goal is for each plant to produce about 2 1/2 pounds of strawberries, and they are on track to hit that target.

The process of getting these strawberries starts in the fall season when they make the beds before planting them in October. The plants start flowering around January and take about 30 to 35 days to become a strawberry.

Wainwright says typically, the strawberry season starts at the end of March and lasts until around the first week of June, but everything depends on the weather.

“Mild springs is good,” he said. “If it gets above 90 (degrees) for consecutive days or for a couple of weeks, a strawberry plant will start to shut down.”

Rain is a big factor as well; a big storm could wipe out all the strawberries.

If you’re looking to pick the perfect strawberry, Wainwright has some advice on what to look for. He says it’s all based on color. The darker the red color, the more mature the berry is, which will be your sweet strawberry. If it’s on the pink side, it is less sweet.

For those hoping for some good peaches this summer, there’s good news. Wainwright says the peach crop is looking good.

“It’s shaping up to be a rather full crop, so we’re excited about that,” he said. “The peaches are grown well. They’ve been pollinated; some of them are bigger than golf balls now.”