Sunday, April 20, 1997

Third year wasn't peachy for farmer

By J.T. SMITH

Farm Editor

COTTONWOOD - The ol' saying "third time is a charm" didn't cut it for Dan and Nancy Childress when it came to this year's peach crop.

He had high hopes for their nearly 500 peach trees, but it has been wiped out for the third year in a row.

Childress has always been famous for his peaches. From farmers markets and stores in Abilene to this Callahan County hamlet, Childress peaches have long been known for their taste and superb quality.

But not in recent years:

-- In 1995, the Cross Plains-Cottonwood tornado detroyed the peach crop.

-- In 1996, the damage to the trees from the previous year's tornado, coupled with the extended '96 drought, got the peach crop.

-- In 1997, three straight nights of temperatures in the 20s in the second week of April took out the Childress trees.

"I'm awfully glad that Dan is a diversified farmer," wife Nancy said. "Otherwise, I don't think I could live with him."

Childress already had thinned, prunned, and sprayed his peach trees at petal drop. With the good moisture from plentiful rains earlier this year, the stage was set for a great peach crop, he thought.

For a few days after the freeze, Childress had hoped a single peach tree had survived. But not so.

His pecan trees - although totally zapped early - eventually will put on a second blooming. Childress said he figures he will have quality instead of quantity with the pecan crop. And since he had planned pruning the pecan trees, anyway, the freeze has already done that job.

Taylor County Extension Agent Gary Bomar isn't ready to concede the entire Taylor County peach crop. It wasn't quite as cold in Abilene as in the valley at Cottonwood.

And - where the fruit already was set - Bomar thinks a few peaches could make it here.

But the Dan Childress peach trees at Cottonwood will have to make another try of it next year.