QUESTION: I just learned that southern Georgia is one of several states that produces the most blueberries in the United States. Could you tell me the most scenic displays of blooming blueberries in southern Georgia?

ANSWER: The most scenic routes through blueberry country are along U.S. Highway 1 south from Baxley through Bacon County and on Georgia Highway 32 east-west through Bacon County, which has about 1,600 acres of blueberries. Appling County has about 1,150 acres, but the county is nearly twice as large. Georgia has more than 6,600 acres of blueberries, with well over half of it in Bacon, Appling and Clinch (1,000 acres) counties. Blueberries are normally in bloom from mid-March into April, and leaves begin appearing in mid-April.

- Danny Stanaland
Bacon County Extension Agent

QUESTION: If Georgia's the Peach State, why do all the canned peaches I buy come from other states?

ANSWER: Georgia peaches go almost exclusively to fresh markets. Most of our peaches have red centers in them. When canned or frozen they have a tendency to "bleed" the red color into the juices, and that's most undesirable for canned peaches. Also, the lowest prices are paid for canning-grade peaches, so it's not very profitable for this area. Most of the processing facilities for fruits and vegetables have moved out of Georgia, with the exception of high-end, gourmet-type products.

- Wayne McLaurin
UGA horticulturist

QUESTION: I keep hearing that Georgia produces a lot of peanuts. My kids love peanut butter. Do the peanuts in their peanut butter come from Georgia?

ANSWER: About half of the peanuts produced in Georgia are runner-type peanuts that go into peanut butter. One-fourth go into candy, and the remaining one-fourth into snack nuts. These numbers are very accurate records maintained by Stocks and Processing that document these uses. The numbers have tracked very similarly for many years. If folks are eating a peanut butter sandwich, there's a very high-percentage chance the peanuts came from Georgia.

- John Beasley
UGA peanut agronomist

QUESTION: News reports going into the winter holidays said Georgia pecan growers are seeing a bumper crop this year. However, the reports also said consumers would see no effect in the marketplace. Is there a reason?

ANSWER: The primary reason was that growers sell in-shell nuts that are then shelled and graded. So, there is the change in the form and ownership of nuts between the orchard and the wholesale box of shelled pecans.

Another reason is that the pecan shelling industry is in turmoil and has limited funds to buy pecans. So, although there is the retail demand, the nuts don't get there in time, creating a shortage of shelled product for retail sales. At the same time, because shellers have insufficient funds to buy in-shell nuts farmers have oversupply of nuts. The price is already under pressure because of the large crop, and now the glut adds more downward pressure on prices. So some growers put their pecans in cold storage in expectation that the situation will settle and they will be able to sell at a higher price in the future. Growers who can't do that must sell at a low price.

Finally, there are price tactics by retailers. Some of the pecans you see at retail are from the last crop. Prices for these pecans were relatively high and retailers would like to sell at some profit, making any downward price movements unlikely -- at least during the holiday season, which still is a primary season for tree nut sales in the United States. Pecan promotion adds to the strength of demand for pecans, too. If retailers see they move enough pecans at existing prices due to promotion, they're reluctant to lower prices. But having no promotion would hurt the pecan industry.

In short, the combination of factors including the change of nut form (from in-shell to shelled), ownership transfer (requiring payment transfer in the opposite direction to commodity movement) and retailer pricing strategies create a situation unfavorable to growers and consumers. Shellers also can't take advantage of the situation, because they lack funds to buy all available pecans.

- Wojciech Florkowski
UGA economist

QUESTION: How could one introduce truffles into a pecan orchard? I would like to get all the information I could on this.

ANSWER: There are many sources of information on the Internet regarding truffle inoculation methods. One place to start would be an article titled "The status of truffle cultivation: A global perspective," by C.K. Lefevre. It's available at http://www.actahort.org/books/556/556_75.htm. This information may not be accurate for growing truffles on pecans, because we're dealing with a different species. However, it would be a good place to start.

- Tim Brenneman
UGA plant pathologist

QUESTION: How are seedless watermelons propagated?

ANSWER: To begin with, they're not truly seedless. Technically, they're referred to as triploids. Most organisms have two sets of chromosomes where the DNA resides. During reproduction, the number of chromosomes is halved so that when the cell mates with another reproductive cell, the number of chromosomes again consists of two complimentary sets. The number of sets of chromosomes can be doubled in some organisms with the use of certain chemicals. This can be done with watermelon, resulting in four complimentary sets of chromosomes. This plant is referred to as a tetraploid. A tetraploid can be mated with a normal plant (called a diploid), which will result in the triploid seed. The tetraploid has its chromosomes halved during reproduction, resulting in two sets of chromosomes, and the diploid has its chromosomes halved, resulting in one set. When they mate, there are three sets of chromosomes. When this plant tries to mate, it has an odd number of chromosomes, so it cannot mate properly, resulting in seeds that do not develop properly. Seedless, or triploid, watermelons require a normal plant for pollination so the fruit will develop -- but the seed inside will remain small, soft and edible. Triploid watermelons are more expensive because of the cost of producing the seeds, which has to be done every year by the seed companies.

- George Boyhan
UGA horticulturist

QUESTION: I'm a regular sweet potato eater. I've recently had two separate instances where the potato was yellow instead of orange. I've been eating sweet potatoes for many years and have never encountered yellow ones. My wife thinks it's because of the drought. Can you explain?

ANSWER: Sweetpotatoes are a vegetatively propagated crop. That means that you take the top or shoot of a plant and plant that and grow the sweet potato. You don't grow from seed. But sweetpotatoes aren't stable in their genetic makeup. Many cultivars "revert" or "run out," meaning that after several years you may get a change in skin color, flesh color, etc. You can't expect each one to stay just as it was. Beauregard and Jewel are now the top lines in the United States. Each was one sweetpotato root from a breeding line. From that one root, plants were taken, grown and increased. All of the Beauregard sweetpotatoes today literally came from one root. What we try to do is make sure the color, size, shape, etc., are just as close to the original as possible when the potatoes are bedded for growing the plants. Some of the growers may not be as diligent as others and will let theirs "run out." This can be avoided by going back to the original bedders and getting new planting stock.

- Wayne McLaurin
UGA horticulturist

QUESTION: Why can't I grow Vidalia onions in north Georgia?

ANSWER: This geographic area of Georgia is unique in its soil type, rainfall patterns, and other climatic conditions which allows for the production of onions that are far milder than those grown in other parts of Georgia. In fact, research tests have shown that onions in the Vidalia region are less pungent than onions produced around the globe. Pungency in onions is tied to the presence or absence of sulfur in the soil during various stages of production.

- Reid Torrance
UGA extension agent in Vidalia onion region

(NOTE: In 1986, Georgia passed legislation giving Vidalia onions legal status and defining the 20-county production area in southeast Georgia. The Vidalia onion was named Georgia's official state vegetable in 1990.)

QUESTION: I'm a "Vidalia onion-holic." For years I've tried to learn the best time of the season to buy them. When are they at their peak, neither rushed to the market before their time nor at the end, when they may have been around too long?

ANSWER: Prime season for Vidalias is the last week of April through May. The first of May is when the best varieties are at peak maturity. You can pretty much guarantee that by the first of May everyone is at full steam and shipping -- it's prime time.

- Reid Torrance
UGA extension agent in Vidalia onion region