|
|
 |
|
|
 |
 |
Peach Stages of Production WINTER
Pruning is the number one manual task during this season. Each one of our more than 450,000 trees is individually pruned by hand. There are many different tree training styles by which each tree can be trained to grow – central leader, perpendicular V, quad, pillar, and open center. Pruning styles vary by grower preference, geographic location, and, in some cases, variety. The vast majority of our trees are pruned by the open center style that is very similar to an inverted umbrella.
Orchard floor management including the use of herbicides is also practiced at this time to reduce winter broad leaf weeds. This procedure, aside from having an aesthetic value, will actually decrease the need for later pesticide sprays by reducing host plants where insects live and feed during winter months. A clean orchard floor can provide warmth – a difference of 2-4 degrees warmer than an orchard floor covered with vegetation. This can provide a tremendous economic value in years when we experience late season freezes and has meant the difference in having some peaches and NO peaches here at Titan Farms. Frail Mowing is another form of orchard floor management and is one that has proven to be a necessity due to the vast amount of prunings that are removed from trees. As the pruners cut and shape the tree as they select the most desired wood to leave on the tree, the excess wood that is removed falls to the orchard floor and is raked to the row middles. We use frail mowers to pulverize and shred these cuttings leaving the debris on the orchard floor where it naturally decomposes thus returning important nutrients and organic matter to the soil. We adopted this practice several years ago and it has reduced our nitrogen fertilizer needs by about 30%.
During this season many tasks are performed. Crop fertilization, crop load reduction (known as thinning), crop protective sprays, and irrigation system installation and maintenance are tasks completed during both the bloom and peach stage of development. We believe that soil fertility goes hand-in-hand with varietal selections, proper management, and a sweet kiss from Mother Nature to enable us to produce the highest quality, best tasting peaches. Peach trees respond best when grown in slightly acidic soils, therefore we maintain our soil pH at or around 6.5 – the optimum pH level for conversion and uptake of soil nutrients. The acid to sugar ratio affords peaches their sweet, sometimes tangy flavor. Each year we utilize GPS technology to gather soil samples for analysis to be sure we achieve optimum pH levels. At Titan Farms we believe in being stewards of the land and are very careful not to apply any crop protectants or enhancements that are unnecessary. We fertilize our orchards based on the same soil test along with references from the prior year’s leaf analysis, crop load, and what we believe is the current year’s crop potential. In most cases we fertilize our trees three times yearly, applying about 50% of the nutrients in early spring. This is the most comprehensive blend of elements that we apply.
A peach tree generally needs 70 to 100 pounds of Nitrogen, zero to 30 pounds of Phosphorus and 120 to 200 pounds of Potassium annually to maintain itself for normal production. At Titan Farms we are very careful to only supply only the amount of fertilizer necessary due to the potential damage to the environment as well as to the financial viability of our operation. Therefore we gather soil samples annually on each of our 160+ blocks of peach trees along with collecting three leaf samples throughout the growing season. Fruit Thinning is one of the most difficult processes for any peach grower to endure mentally. We understand that in order to produce large succulent peaches we must reduce the crop load on the tree thus reducing competition for available nutrients. This process begins with bloom thinning in mid-March with workers entering designated orchards removing between 50 and 70% of the blooms from the trees. Studies year-in and year-out prove this type of thinning is not only the most economical, but leads to larger fruit, increased tonnage and it advances maturity. The overwhelming risk is that we are highly susceptible to frosts or freezes during this time and having removed so many flowers, such a weather event could easily wipe out the entire block.
In addition to spraying and thinning, other employees are busy preparing the peach packing lines for operation, ordering the many supplies necessary to get the season started as well as maintaining other equipment needed during harvest and packing season.
Harvesting peaches is done completely by hand. Pickers select ripe fruit based on a creamy yellow background color and place them in a bag worn around their shoulders. Once the bag is full, the worker transfers the fruit to a plastic bin. Each bin holds approximately 20 bushels of fruit (the equivalent of about 1000 pounds. Five of these bins are on a wagon that is pulled through the field by a tractor. Harvest crews are made up of 15 people – 6 workers picking three rows on each side of the trailer (two workers per row), one puncher and two tractor drivers. Working with several harvest crews is a field supervisor ensuring the fruit is harvested properly and is handled as easily as possible. Since all the fruit on a tree doesn’t ripen at one time, the same picking group will generally pick a field five times with two to three days between pickings. This is to ensure that fruit is harvested at its peak stage of readiness, not too ripe that it will be unable to make it through the packing process, but ripe enough to have that sweet flavor our customers expect from a Titan peach. Titan’s reputation in this industry is built upon the quality and consistency of the pack we provide our customers, the timeliness of our product reaching the market, and our ability to trace each packed box all the way back to the field in which it was picked. Each evening our staff analyzes the product in inventory and creates a packing schedule for the following day. Varieties having the same color and size characteristics are grouped together for packing. The run order and the grouping of the fruit prior to packing are important marketing aspects. Our customers expect to see uniform size and quality throughout the season. At this point a lot number is created for each group of fruit. This lot number will follow the fruit through the packing process, will be printed on the side of the box and will follow the fruit on to your neighborhood grocer. The peach packing process begins with two Sorma bin dumpers – the most gentle fruit handlers in the industry – carefully feeding product onto the packing line. At this point the fruit is no longer inventoried as a bulk product but is packed by lots and becomes a part of the packed inventory. As each peach is washed, brushes remove the fuzz, and a food grade wax is applied to protect the fruit from the invasion of bacteria and to enhance shelf life. The fruit then travels under the watchful eyes of some of the most skilled and dedicated fruit graders in the industry. Here it is graded by hand for defects, blemishes, and any soft places. Soft and defected peaches (seconds) are re-graded and sold locally at a discount. From here the peach travels along the twelve lane computerized sizer with 18 programmable drops and 12 hand-packing stations to the filler where it is placed into a shipping container. The majority of Titan peaches are shipped in 25 lb. volume filled boxes - the standard pack of our industry. This black box continues to be our most sought after package and is the backbone of our company. However we have recognized that consumer preferences and economic times are ever-changing and have dedicated the past four years to developing an innovative product line to meet the needs of all of our customers. From the price conscience value shopper to the shopper who demands the best and is willing to pay for it – we have a product to fit your needs. First and foremost we recognize that our business is built on taste, quality, consistency, and repeat purchase. Marketing peaches is challenging to the fact that peaches are not sold from inventory but rather in advance of harvest. We work closely with our sales agents on crop projections, to manage our sales inventory and the needs of our customers. However as the weather changes, making these estimates is an educated guess at best. This is why grouping of fruit on the run order is very important. Different buyers (A&P, Bi-Lo, Harris Teeter, Kroger, Publix, Wal-Mart, to name a few) have different characteristics (color and size) they prefer. One may only buy large fruit and another may be on ad for a small fruit and may need it tomorrow. One company may require and be willing to pay for the best color that you have, while another is more concerned with condition and quality than color. Knowing your buyer is the key to successful marketing of the crop. Working with our sales agents to pack the product in specific order is just as important to guarantee we deliver the right fruit to the right people on time. If that wasn’t enough to look after during the season, the peaches must be continually sprayed for diseases and insects. Also peaches must be irrigated to ensure proper sizing and ripening. Peaches require almost sixteen inches of water during the three weeks prior to harvest through harvest (about a five week period). It takes a great deal of manpower and machinery to accomplish these tasks. Major concerns during harvesting, packaging, and shipping season are numerous but fortunately do not occur often. Some are as follows: hail storms, floods, hurricanes, power outages, labor shortages, truck driver shortages/strikes, and supplier problems.
Wow! At last time to slow down! We use this time to get reacquainted with our families. These months are spent cleaning up equipment, orchards, labor camps, and wrapping up all the loose ends from the hectic summer months. Crews are in the fields removing dead and broken limbs and we are moving and preparing land to plant new trees. General equipment maintenance and cleaning is performed in the packing shed.
|
Pruning begins as soon as the tree is planted. We take a one-year old tree who’s variety was grafted onto a specific rootstock adapted to our area and was then transplanted during the dormant season. Upon transplanting all branches are cut back to within one inch of the main trunk and the trunk itself is topped off at no more than 22 inches above the ground. From here the training begins. In the first year as new limbs are expressed by the tree, we select four or five limbs to leave while removing all excess growth. It is very important that limb orientation from one another and the angle in which the limbs attach to the main trunk are clearly determined. In year two and three pruning centers around the continued development of these limbs making them the main scaffold limbs for the tree for the rest of the life of the tree. Generally between age three and four these scaffold limbs are headed off at approximately four to five feet above ground level causing them to create a Y and to break into two sub-scaffolds while maintaining the desired angle of growth from the main trunk thus exemplifying the open center pruning style. Generally between years six and seven, a tree has reached our desired height of 8 to 9 feet above ground. At this point the majority of the tree’s training has been completed however bi-annual prunnings are required to maintain its shape and the quality of fruit wood we desire for future crops. Peaches are only produced from limbs grown the previous year therefore old wood is cut out and new wood is thinned out to leave just the right number of fruit branches on each tree, allowing the ever important sunlight to reach each and every branch of the tree.
Dormant Crop Protective Sprays: 
In March each year travelers on roads across the ridge area of South Carolina are treated to blankets of pink blooms often reaching all the way to the horizon. Bloom season is truly one of the most beautiful sites you will ever see! Peach tree blooms vary in color from a very pale pink to a deep rich pink or coral color. The color is dependent on the specific variety. Bloom and growth stages mark the official beginning of production. Our work force nearly triples and average hours worked per week increases by 25%-35%. You can see this is the time to get busy!
Why add this to the soil? Nitrogen must be carefully monitored to ensure enough vigor in the tree to support the current year crop load, however too much Nitrogen can be extremely detrimental to fruit quality and to the following year’s pruning bill. Potassium and calcium are the next two elements that we monitor and adjust regularly to ensure fruit size, bold taste, and color. Once the crop is set in mid-April, generally we make our second fertilizer application depending on the crop set in each individual block. The third application is made in late August ensuring our trees go into the dormant period with enough stored carbohydrates to fuel healthy bud development and a strong bloom the following crop year.
The second phase of thinning is the removal of green fruitlets from the trees. This process generally begins in the first full week of April and must be completed within 6 to 7 weeks. This job is very dependent on spring temperatures. Fruitlet thinning is accomplished as workers remove 70 to 90% of the fruit set on a tree. Every variety is different and must be handled on an individual basis, but generally we try to leave one to four fruitlets per fruit limb with sufficient space between each fruitlet ensuring proper growth and development. As a result we remove between 2500 and 4000 fruitlets from the tree leaving only about 500 peaches as the crop. Workers are instructed to leave the largest fruitlets, to remove any “twins” and to watch for adjacent limbs that could cause skin blemishes in mature fruit. The amount of fruitlets remaining on a limb is dependent on variety, length of fruitwood and location of the fruitwood in the tree canopy. Mechanical shakers and bats are utilized by some growers to actually knock fruit from the tree, but at Titan Farms we believe that hand-thinning leads to the best crop production. Orchards are typically walked over for thinning at least two times to ensure we have a uniform crop.
We also spend many hours during this stage walking irrigation lines and testing irrigation systems to be certain we are ready to apply water at just the right growth stages for optimum size and fruit quality. Orchards are scouted and sprayed as necessary to control the many different diseases and insects that have the potential to severely affect a crop’s marketability. Through this stage, peach growers are most vulnerable to Mother Nature. Late frosts and freezes, hailstorms, and other severe weather adversities are just a few of the elements that can reduce and/or destroy a peach crop in the matter of one day.
If we don’t have everything ready by now, it’s too late! Even for the best-organized operations it is very difficult to see to every detail each day. Our seasonal work force increases to about 440 workers who are working on three distinct yet separate main tasks simultaneously: harvesting, packaging, and horticulture tasks. Additionally we have a team of employees who play a support role for each of these activities for a total of around 475 employees. 
The packaging process begins as the fruit arrives from the field and each bin box is scanned into our inventory system. Immediately we record the block from which the fruit was harvested, the harvest crew responsible for harvesting the fruit, any quality issues that should be noted, and it is assigned a place in our bulk inventory coolers. At that point the bins enter the hydrocooler – one of the most important steps in the packing process. Bins are placed into tunnels where water at 34 degrees Fahrenheit pours down over the fruit. The purpose here is to cool the fruit down from its picking temperature of nearly 85°F to about 35°F stopping the ripening process and allowing for a longer shelf life. Once peaches exit the hydrocooler they are stored in a cooler that is carefully monitored via a web-based program until they are packed. Support personnel are notified via a cell phone call if temperatures in these storages coolers fall below a certain point.
The #1 product first makes its way beneath the Color Vision non-destructive Brix detector that monitors Brix levels or sweetness of the fruit and then makes its way onto the peach sizer. Peaches are marketed by diameter size with larger sizes having higher demand in the marketplace. PLU (price look-up code) stickers are placed on the fruit during the packing process. These stickers contain an industry standard number that is used by grocery store chains to determine correct pricing at the register. Some grocery stores have updated their register process to include a databar scanner. This is a condensed barcode that provides brand and product information and also allows for accurate pricing at the register.
At Titan Farms we typically harvest, pack, and ship our peaches within 24 to 48 hours of the time they are picked off the tree. The Southeastern industry prides itself on having the freshest, ripest, best-tasting, peaches in the country due to the fact that they are in the stores ready for consumers within two or three days of being picked. 