It’s peach thinning time, and we’re working hard to ensure our peaches grow to their full potential! Join us on this journey alongside Mark Cederlind, a dedicated California family farmer, as he shares his expertise on preparing for the upcoming harvest.
Organics – Crop is developing/maturing and looking good at this stage. Starting to see quarter size fruit with some consistency and half dollar size here and there. Weather conditions have been favorable and continue to look good for the next ten days to two weeks out.
San Marzano Style, Pear Tomatoes – Starting to see small fruit with some consistency in the early plantings. Plants continue to mature as expected.
Conventional Tomatoes –Transplanting is 100% completed, having finished this past week. Early plantings are looking good as do the mid-season plantings. Late season plantings look very good also. The weather has been cooperative, and conditions are excellent for this time of the year. Great growing conditions exist at this time.
Modesto/Madera/Kingsburg – The first round of Reference Date Sizing was 37.4mm compared to 37.5mm last year at this time. Size looks good considering the heavy set of peaches this year. Growers continue to thin their extra early and early varieties. Natural sloughing (sloughing means small peaches that fall off the tree prior to maturing) is finally showing in the Late varieties so growers can start thinning them as they finish up their early varieties. The crop appears to be clean. Growers are irrigating and fertilizing.
Madera – Started thinning the Americans. Will thin the Calaveras varieties next. Weed control and irrigation repairs continue. Irrigating as needed.
Marysville/Yuba City – The crop in the North is looking better than in the previous couple of years. The amount of fruit is plentiful, which means growers are having to thin more so that the fruit can size adequately. The Reference date is officially May 22nd for the region and the sizes of the fruit are smaller in diameter than the two previous years because of the greater amount of fruit on the trees. Cultural practices continue throughout the weeks such as irrigating, discing, and fertilizing.
Organic Peaches – Kingsburg – Finished thinning all varieties. Color is starting to break in the Americans. Still looking at June 10th as a possible start date. Working on weed control and irrigation. Madera – Thinning continues in the Early and Late varieties. Thinning was slow due to the heavy-set fruit on the trees. Currently working on weed control, irrigation, and crop protection.
River and Linden Districts – Fruit is starting to turn down in most orchards. Fruit growth has moved considerably in the last two weeks. Overall fruit size is averaging 1.4”. This size is the same as it was for this week in 2020. Anticipated harvest start date for the fresh market is July 15th. Cultural practices continue.
Mendocino and Lake Districts – Lake County orchards continue to appear to have a full crop. Mendocino orchards will have a below average crop, but our growers in that district should be able to cover their PCP contracts.
Pacific Northwest – The Pacific Northwest Bartlett pear orchards are average crop loads. The pears are growing well and the quality is good. Growers are irrigating and continuing their crop protection as needed.
Final bloom sprays were completed in Bakersfield last week and Madera should finish up anytime. This grape crop is taking off due to ideal growing conditions. It is still early but it looks like we have a full crop and should have no problem reaching our desired tonnage. Crop protection materials, irrigations and mowing continue in both districts.
The 5 State Cherry Meeting was held on May 15th. The estimate is for a below average crop of 17 million boxes. This is due to the January freeze damage in Northern Washington. In Oregon, the cherry crop is average to above average. Oregon has a nice set of cherries, and therefore PCP will have a full pack of cherries. In Salem, there are locations where the trees are stressed, and the fruit is dropping heavier than expected. This will reduce the overall Salem crop. Where the tree health is good the crop is likewise ample. Harvest timing remains a few days ahead of average. Degree Day accumulation ranges from behind average to 4 days ahead of average depending on the weather station location.
Growing conditions have been ideal and apricots are sizing up nicely. At this point it looks like we should have above average size. Growers continue to irrigate and mow as needed. Still anticipating starting sometime around the 10th of June.
The Pacific Northwest apple crop is down from last year’s big crop. It is a good crop with good quality. Growers are thinning, irrigating, and following their IPM program.
