Carpenter almond ranch pics

Beautiful!! Lots of nuts, good growth, good weed control (for now anyway, we'll have to be back for the weeds several times before harvest). Low hanging limbs may have to be tipped back. Click on pictures for larger view.

Almond crop looks good so far..

This is mid-april crop. Pics were taken around ten days ago.

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.