Crop Report: April 3rd, 2020
Tomatoes
Conventionals – Transplanting continues despite fluctuations in weather of scattered showers to sunshine. Scattered showers in the forecast for next week. Growers will continue to transplant as weather permits.
San Marzano Style – Transplanting continues and should be completed by early next week.
Organics – The weather is a little cooler than normal for this time of year, however plants are looking good and progressing along nicely.
Peaches
Organics – Fruit growth is moving along nicely. All normal cultural practices such as mowing and irrigating continue along with standard crop protection.
Conventionals – Majority of peaches have pushed out of their jackets with the exception of the Klamath variety. Fruit appears to be uniform at this time. Heavy fruit set, labor concerns, and COVID-19 regulations have growers improvising to find creative solutions to prune and thin orchards that require less labor. Last week there were reports of hail in the Fresno area, however no reports of damage from growers. Pruning continues due to lack of labor. All normal cultural practices including tying, mowing and irrigating as needed along with crop protection continue.
Pears
Orchards are in various stages of the blooming process. Some are showing full bloom with petals while others are in petal fall. Cooler weather and rain expected over the weekend will slow down the development process. Normal cultural practices and crop protection continue.
Grapes
Grapes progressing along well. Growth is slightly slower due to cooler temperatures. Overall season is slightly behind last year’s timing but no concerns. Normal cultural practices and crop protection continue.
Cherries
Orchards have experienced cold and wet weather conditions, slowing the crop progression moving harvest closer to 2019 timing. There have been several nights of frost requiring additional measures to ensure crop protection. Minimal damage can be seen however we are still projecting a good crop overall.
Apricots
All fruit has shed their jackets except for a few cots that bloomed late. Early blooming orchards fruit size averaging 28-30mm in diameter. It is looking like the majority of orchards will not need thinning. Normal cultural practices and crop protection continue.