Is it the sunny weather or the chance to visit progressive stone fruit growers that lured orchardists from around North America to California’s San Joaquin Valley this week?
Let’s just say both.
The almonds and plums were at full bloom, the citrus was ripe and some pink tip buds could even be seen in a block of one of California’s earliest apples, the Sugar Burst, a proprietary variety owned by Family Tree Farms, when the International Fruit Tree Association capped off its annual conference with an orchard tour.
The day featured five stops:
First, at Sangha Farms in Del Rey, grower Mitch Sangha and Jozsef Racsko from Valent shared updates on recent trials using plant growth regulators to defoliate cherries in the fall to push trees into dormancy and as alternative dormancy breaking agents for spring.
“We do it so we can pick cherries early, before Washington,” Sangha said with a laugh. “You ought to thank the cherry growers in California for doing that. It’s very expensive.”
Second, John Warmerdam of Kings Orchards (not to be confused with his cousin, John Warmerdam of Warmerdam Packing) shared his approach to cherry training in his freestanding trees.
As long as workers can pick efficiently, he doesn’t worry about a labor shortage, he said.
“Everyone is going to show up if they can make money,” he said. “At $5 a tote, people want to come pick.”
Third, the tour visited the Sugar Burst apple orchard, where research and development director Eric Wuhl shared updates on the fifth-leaf apple block and a young neighboring block.
“I don’t think this is a Washington apple, it’s too low-chill,” he said. But new plantings are going in in South Africa, he said.
Fourth, at Grapery, viticulturist Yi Zhang shared insights into the table grape company’s forays into low-chill cherries. He’s facing a difficult challenge in that they planted two new varieties, expecting them to cross-pollinize, only to discover that the bloom timing does not align.
He had a supplemental pollen application scheduled, he said.
Lastly, the tour visited HMC Farms, where grower Drew Ketelsen shared updates on how planar peach, plum and nectarine plantings have enabled them to adopt more mechanization, including platforms for pruning, thinning and harvest.
“Harvest is less efficient than what we do with pruning and thinning, because we have to do multiple passes,” he said. But the platform has also allowed them to manage taller trees again, without the time lost to ladders.
