Excellent bloom sign of good season for stone fruit
Excellent bloom sign of good season for stone fruit
FRESNO, CA -- The weather this past winter and early spring has been just about ideal to produce a strong and consistent bloom and a good set in cherry, apricot, peach, plum, nectarine and other stone fruit orchards in California's San Joaquin Valley, according to growers and shippers in the area. Barring any future weather problems, good-quality fruit and an orderly harvest with good volume are expected for the 2008 season.
"We have had a very, very good quality bloom period, which is critical," said Don Goforth, marketing director at Family Tree Farms in Reedley, CA. "There is nothing right now that is causing us any sort of concern or panic. It looks like a great-quality year."
The trees have "a good, full set" but not an overly heavy set, Mr. Goforth said March 25. "I heard it said today [in meetings with growers] that the trees are nicely balanced with what they can handle."
Mr. Goforth expects the company to begin picking apriums, its first stone fruit of the season, from the Kettleman Hills area around April 24-25, followed by white peaches that same week and yellow peaches shortly thereafter.
Growers will have a better idea the second week of April about how well the crop is developing. But as of March 25 -- some three weeks into the start of the bloom season -- Bob Maxwell, a salesman at Kingsburg Orchards in Kingsburg, CA, said that so far the crop was looking normal in all respects - "normal time, normal size, normal volume."
He expects to pick "our first fruit" around April 16 or 17 this year, just two or three days later than last year. "We'll start with peaches" such as April Snow white flesh and Super Lady yellow flesh varieties, he said.
The harvest started about the same time the last two years ago, but the two years before that "we were very, very late," he said.
The weather has been "very normal" this past winter, Mr. Maxwell said. "We had some good rain" before bloom and dry weather during bloom. "We had a lot of chill hours. I think the trees are healthy. In the absence of any strange weather happenings, it should be a very good year, quality-wise and volume-wise."
Earlier, it looked like the harvest might start five to seven days later than last year, according to Anthony Martino, a partner in Scattaglia Growers & Shippers LLC in Traver, CA. But with the nice weather recently, "we might catch up to last year's harvest time," he said.
Cherries will be the earliest stone fruit crop of the season for SGS, Mr. Martino said. "They are the quickest fruit to achieve maturity," taking only about 45 days "from bloom to harvest." The Brooks variety could be ready to pick as early as April 23, followed by Tulares about a week later, he said.
"The set on the cherries looks to be for the most part just as good as last year. It looks like it is going to be a decent-sized crop" for the second year in a row.
Apricots also "look pretty good," he said. The earliest varieties in the southern end of the valley could be ready by April 28 or May 1, and if weather conditions continue to be good, "it could kick off with some decent sizing."
Peaches in the Maricopa area in the southern San Joaquin Valley could also start about the same time, he said. In nectarines, he expects the Zee Fire, "probably one of the better early nectarines in the deal," to start around May 8.
Plums will start a little later, perhaps around mid- to late-May, he said.
Mr. Martino emphasized the importance of growers thinning the crop properly and harvesting at the right maturity to get the size and quality the markets want. "We can help this thing succeed," he said, "or we can be a detriment to ourselves. Doing the right thing in the field will help get the right fruit to the consumers, and that will help drive the category. That is what we need. Growers didn't have a good year last year."
Maurice Cameron, a salesman at Trinity Fruit Sales Co. in Fresno, CA, said March 17 that "for the past couple of weeks, we have had 'picture-postcard' weather here in Central California: beautiful sunny days for the most part," and overall "close to ideal bloom weather."
With some "very small cherries just peeking out of their jackets" in the earliest districts, it was too early to predict timing accurately, but "as we stand now, I would presume we would be a few days behind 2007," he said.
There has been some concern from customers who have heard that there is a shortage of bees to pollinate the cherries, Mr. Cameron said. But, in fact, "there have been ample bees available for the cherry crop, and with the nice weather we are having, there has been a lot of bee flight activity."
A written market update from Dayka & Hackett LLC in Reedley, CA, issued March 14, noted that "the 2007 tree fruit crop was the largest in over five years," with a total of about 55.5 million boxes of California peaches, plums and nectarines shipped.
"So far, the weather has cooperated well towards making this year's crop look very promising. Dormancy hours were excellent" with over 1,000 chill hours, and "the very consistent weather pattern has made the bloom set very evenly and very strongly," the statement said.
On March 25, Julian Lipschitz, a salesman at Dayka & Hackett, said that the season had previously appeared to be five to seven days behind last year, but that it now appears to be catching up. "We figure we are going to start Tasty Rich apriums," which may also be marketed as apricots, "around the 23rd of April, with Poppycot apricots starting "probably around the 29th or 30th" and Earlicots starting about five days later.
"I think we are getting set up to have a pretty decent crop because the weather was pretty consistent" and "the bloom was pretty even and full," Mr. Lipschitz said. "It looks pretty promising."
Dale Janzen, director of industry relations for the California Tree Fruit Agreement in Reedley, said March 25 that the boom this year was "really strong and healthy. It looks like timing right now is within a day or two of last year's timing. So far, everything is looking really good."
Most of the fruit is "still in its jackets right now," he said, so "as far as telling where the actual crop is, we are going to need another week or so. But in talking to farmers that have been walking their orchards, they are liking what they have been seeing."
Last year, one problem with the stone fruit crop was that "at the first of the season, we were somewhat size challenged," Mr. Janzen said. So far this year, "the indicators look like sizing should be normal," he said.
"We have had a very, very good quality bloom period, which is critical," said Don Goforth, marketing director at Family Tree Farms in Reedley, CA. "There is nothing right now that is causing us any sort of concern or panic. It looks like a great-quality year."
The trees have "a good, full set" but not an overly heavy set, Mr. Goforth said March 25. "I heard it said today [in meetings with growers] that the trees are nicely balanced with what they can handle."
Mr. Goforth expects the company to begin picking apriums, its first stone fruit of the season, from the Kettleman Hills area around April 24-25, followed by white peaches that same week and yellow peaches shortly thereafter.
Growers will have a better idea the second week of April about how well the crop is developing. But as of March 25 -- some three weeks into the start of the bloom season -- Bob Maxwell, a salesman at Kingsburg Orchards in Kingsburg, CA, said that so far the crop was looking normal in all respects - "normal time, normal size, normal volume."
He expects to pick "our first fruit" around April 16 or 17 this year, just two or three days later than last year. "We'll start with peaches" such as April Snow white flesh and Super Lady yellow flesh varieties, he said.
The harvest started about the same time the last two years ago, but the two years before that "we were very, very late," he said.
The weather has been "very normal" this past winter, Mr. Maxwell said. "We had some good rain" before bloom and dry weather during bloom. "We had a lot of chill hours. I think the trees are healthy. In the absence of any strange weather happenings, it should be a very good year, quality-wise and volume-wise."
Earlier, it looked like the harvest might start five to seven days later than last year, according to Anthony Martino, a partner in Scattaglia Growers & Shippers LLC in Traver, CA. But with the nice weather recently, "we might catch up to last year's harvest time," he said.
Cherries will be the earliest stone fruit crop of the season for SGS, Mr. Martino said. "They are the quickest fruit to achieve maturity," taking only about 45 days "from bloom to harvest." The Brooks variety could be ready to pick as early as April 23, followed by Tulares about a week later, he said.
"The set on the cherries looks to be for the most part just as good as last year. It looks like it is going to be a decent-sized crop" for the second year in a row.
Apricots also "look pretty good," he said. The earliest varieties in the southern end of the valley could be ready by April 28 or May 1, and if weather conditions continue to be good, "it could kick off with some decent sizing."
Peaches in the Maricopa area in the southern San Joaquin Valley could also start about the same time, he said. In nectarines, he expects the Zee Fire, "probably one of the better early nectarines in the deal," to start around May 8.
Plums will start a little later, perhaps around mid- to late-May, he said.
Mr. Martino emphasized the importance of growers thinning the crop properly and harvesting at the right maturity to get the size and quality the markets want. "We can help this thing succeed," he said, "or we can be a detriment to ourselves. Doing the right thing in the field will help get the right fruit to the consumers, and that will help drive the category. That is what we need. Growers didn't have a good year last year."
Maurice Cameron, a salesman at Trinity Fruit Sales Co. in Fresno, CA, said March 17 that "for the past couple of weeks, we have had 'picture-postcard' weather here in Central California: beautiful sunny days for the most part," and overall "close to ideal bloom weather."
With some "very small cherries just peeking out of their jackets" in the earliest districts, it was too early to predict timing accurately, but "as we stand now, I would presume we would be a few days behind 2007," he said.
There has been some concern from customers who have heard that there is a shortage of bees to pollinate the cherries, Mr. Cameron said. But, in fact, "there have been ample bees available for the cherry crop, and with the nice weather we are having, there has been a lot of bee flight activity."
A written market update from Dayka & Hackett LLC in Reedley, CA, issued March 14, noted that "the 2007 tree fruit crop was the largest in over five years," with a total of about 55.5 million boxes of California peaches, plums and nectarines shipped.
"So far, the weather has cooperated well towards making this year's crop look very promising. Dormancy hours were excellent" with over 1,000 chill hours, and "the very consistent weather pattern has made the bloom set very evenly and very strongly," the statement said.
On March 25, Julian Lipschitz, a salesman at Dayka & Hackett, said that the season had previously appeared to be five to seven days behind last year, but that it now appears to be catching up. "We figure we are going to start Tasty Rich apriums," which may also be marketed as apricots, "around the 23rd of April, with Poppycot apricots starting "probably around the 29th or 30th" and Earlicots starting about five days later.
"I think we are getting set up to have a pretty decent crop because the weather was pretty consistent" and "the bloom was pretty even and full," Mr. Lipschitz said. "It looks pretty promising."
Dale Janzen, director of industry relations for the California Tree Fruit Agreement in Reedley, said March 25 that the boom this year was "really strong and healthy. It looks like timing right now is within a day or two of last year's timing. So far, everything is looking really good."
Most of the fruit is "still in its jackets right now," he said, so "as far as telling where the actual crop is, we are going to need another week or so. But in talking to farmers that have been walking their orchards, they are liking what they have been seeing."
Last year, one problem with the stone fruit crop was that "at the first of the season, we were somewhat size challenged," Mr. Janzen said. So far this year, "the indicators look like sizing should be normal," he said.
