As The Fruit Blooms

Laura Avery
Mirror Contributing Writer

   It’s blossom time in the San Joaquin Valley. All around farming towns like Sanger, Reedley, Selma and Dinuba, just off Route 99, there are miles and miles of fruit and almond trees in bloom. Beginning with almonds, with their large, sweet-smelling white flowers, in rapid succession the apricots, peaches, nectarines and plums set forth the lovely flowers which will become this year’s stone fruit crop. Local Chambers of Commerce publish "blossom trail" maps which guide tourists to the most scenic drives in their respective counties, and farmers have been encouraged to label their orchards for the edification of non-local travelers. This is a beautiful time of year, and it only lasts a few weeks. Meanwhile the farmers have been busy doing the hard work to prepare their trees for fruit set.
   The heavy rains of February and March have been a boon and a blessing for farmers all over the state. Rain means that costly irrigation is not necessary, and that the water levels in wells, reservoirs and aquifers will be recharged. Pelting raindrops hamper the movement of pollinating bees in almond orchards, however, and the amount of rain will directly effect the amount of almonds that will be harvested. 
   Apricots bloom earliest of the tree fruit, but their white blossoms bloom in clusters, so they self-pollinate and are not dependent on bees. However, wet apricot blossoms will result in brown rot in the fruit, so farmers must take preventive measures against the brown rot fungus by spraying their apricot orchards with fungicides. Usually a form of sulphur is used, and there are organic varieties are on the market.
   This year’s crop should also be a good one because there has been adequate chilling this winter. Stone fruit requires at least 900 hours of chilling at 45 degrees or below in order to have good bloom set. The western San Joaquin Valley, with its notorious fog, is capable of achieving the required hours of chill during most years. Last year’s mild weather resulted in a light fruit crop. Art Lange of Honey Crisp Farm in Reedley says his apricots, plums and apples were greatly diminished last year, and he did not get any pluots at all. A light crop one year is usually followed by a heavy crop since trees have plenty of stored energy. Every winter farmers also treat their trees with dormant sprays, usually mineral oil based, to hold down San Jose scale and twig leaf borer -– two very harmful pests that infest tender bud wood. Ground nematodes, microscopic worms that feed on roots, are also ever-present in orchard soils. Heavy concentrations of nematodes will result in smaller trees. Growers like Art Lange experiment with nematode resistant root stock, which has proven to be relatively successful. 
   Art has one orchard of 50-year old peach trees that are planted in the "old fashioned" way of twenty-by-twenty foot spacing. In spite of their age and the fact that they are loaded with dead wood, these stalwart Spring Crest peaches produce an abundant crop of excellent fruit each year -- with no apparent nematode problems. Art has tried interplanting young trees into his healthy grove, but the cost to fumigate the soil for nematodes prior to planting is too high, so now he just lets his orchard alone.
   Art’s neighbor Fitz Kelly takes a philosophical approach to the rain, which is not to worry about what you can’t control. He also sprays to control brown rot caused by rain, but he thinks he is lucky to be spared the damaging effects of hail that bedevils his neighbors to the north in Sanger, which he calls a "hail magnet." Hail will knock the blossoms right off the trees, and late hail will result in unacceptable surface blemishes in mature fruit. Small fruit must be thinned to produce large mature fruit, and this is a laborious, highly skilled procedure that is repeated each spring. Careful pruning must be done during blossom time, and Farmers’ Market customers enjoy buying the beautiful blossom-laden woody stems pruned from fruit orchards. 
   Art Lange removes entire limbs of his trees during the thinning process, resulting in fewer branches to thin and less fruit, but with superior size and quality, as his many customers can attest. Fitz is trying a new method this year -- of thinning out blossoms prior to fruit set. This practice should also have the added benefit of sending more energy to the remaining blooms and yielding more flavorful fruit. It is very time-sensitive and must be done in the brief period before the trees leaf out and the blossoms are harder to get to.
   John Tenerelli and Fred Kosmo grow fruit at higher elevations in Little Rock and Cuyama, and nothing in their orchards is in bloom yet. John’s orchards are not susceptible to brown rot because they are drier than the foggy San Joaquin, although he must treat his young fruit for peach twig borer by using "bt," a naturally occurring pesticide championed by organic farmers. Fred has a more "wait and see" approach to his thinning program -- he will wait until all normal danger of frost is past, usually by the middle of April, and see what is left on the trees to prune and thin. 
   So, we will be looking forward to a good fruit crop this year. Both Art and Fitz have planted many new experimental varieties of apricots which will be available for a small harvest this year. Meanwhile, we can just sit back and relax and let the farmers work their magic yet again.