Cankers observed on some wood colony variety almond trees.

Can someone call the tree doctor please?

We noticed a condition on some of the Wood Colony that caused some concern.

Gary Layne (Mid Valley Ag), Prof Roger Duncan (UC David) and Aaron Hackler (Wilbur-Ellis) all came out to look at it, and no one could identify it with certainty.

It appears similar to Ceratocystis canker which often is caused by shaker damage, but many of these cankers are higher on the tree, on scaffolds and limbs, where no shaker has been. It is only on the Wood Colony variety. It could have been a fungal disease called Aerial Phytophthora. We ll have to continue to observe and evaluate our options.

Carpenter almond bloom: Beauty at its best!

Bloom time. Let the bees play!

A good chill during Dec/Jan months followed by a slightly warmer Feb coaxes the first almond tree blossoms from their buds.

Peach blooms at Whitmore ranch:

Bloom is fast approaching? Bees in place.

However, Lane says blooms seems to be arriving very late. Apparently we should be well into bloom by now.

Apparently, this is a good thing because the later bloom occurs the better are the chances we will avoid frost damage. The recent rains have really soaked the ground and the current forecasts are very favorable for bloom, clearing and warming. The bees were placed in the orchard last week.

Hives are generally moved at night to reduce agitation and to reduce the likelihood that colonies will abscond.

My father visits the orchard.

More harvest! Del Monte discards too many peaches?

These are all "yellow cling peaches." Peaches you usually find on grocery aisles are "free stone" peaches where the flesh of the fruit doesn't stick to the stone. But, peaches grown in our ranch are all cling-stone peaches. These are supposed to be more flavorful (smell beautiful), less juicy, more firm and just as sweet if not sweeter. In summary, yellow cling peaches are way better tasting than freestone peaches. So, look for them in whole foods or specialty produce stores.

We supply all of our peaches to Del Monte, which cans them in a nearby factory. 

It seems as though they discard a lot of peaches, but in fact it is a minuscule percentage of picked fruit and are considered of "inferior quality" by Del Monte. However, I just don't understand why the pickers are not trained to leave them on the trees.  

All these picked peaches are going to their Modesto Canning facility where they are going to remove the skin, pit them, slice them up and store them up in 10 lb cans. I am told, these cans will be utilized all throughout the coming year for mixing in yogurts, making small fruit cups, etc.

Almond harvest and "Shaker Blight"

Peach harvest involves farm workers going around in the orchard from tree to tree and picking fruit by hand. Nothing new..

But, almonds are harvested in an entirely new (to me!) way. By shaking the trees. Yes. 

1. A shaker head attaches to the tree trunk to shake the nuts from the tree. 
2. The nuts fall to the ground, are left to dry. 
3. Later, they are blown from around the tree and swept into windrows. 
4. A pickup machine gathers the nuts from the windrow and loads them into a truck.

Personally, it pains to see the trees being shaked. It cannot be a pleasant experience for them, right? 

So, I did some research and talked to farming experts like  Prof Roger Duncan on what kind of "side effects" shaking has. It turns out, "Shaker Blight" has been a major problem for almonds, although this has been remedied by recent improvements in the equipment design. 

The major problem shakers cause is "barking" or slipped bark. That results from improper clamp pressure or movement of the rig after clamping. Modern shakers automatically lock the brakes when clamping pressure is achieved and this has reduced the incidence of slipped bark. A shaker is capable of shaking off a lot of twigs, but the duration and strength of the shake are variables that can be controlled to minimize this. Less energy is applied to young trees. 

Infrequently a limb will break off, but these are usually limbs that were cracked or otherwise damaged and destined to break off anyway. 

The biggest variable affecting the amount of damage is the operator. 

Experience and desire to do a good job are important. Most of our shaker business goes to Mr. Randy Bennett. He owns two machines that he and his son and one employee operate. We like him.