Potential impact of winter temperature increases on South Carolina peach production

Abstract

An average winter temperature increase of 2°C would decrease chilling hour accumulation by approximately 400 h and approach the minimum required chilling hours of most peach varieties currently grown in the state. A 4°C warming would result in average chilling hour accumulation ranging from 775 h in coastal regions, to 1350 h in the Piedmont. If growers continued to use current peach varieties, such warming would substantially decrease the probability of achieving sufficient chilling hours during the dormant season. Our analysis shows that the date of the mean spring frost could occur approximately 2 and 3 wk earlier than at present for 2°C and 4°C winter warming scenarios, respectively. -from Authors