Recently I posted a picture of nuts on the ground as a result of the wind we were suffering through.  I just received this article from Western Farm Press which estimates losses which resulted from the wind.  Click below to read the article.

Winds cause 70 million plus loss california almonds

The picture here has nothing to do with the wind losses.  Just a nice crop on a 4th leaf Nonpareil.

BLOWOUT!
On April 9, this meter box exploded seconds after starting the pump.  We train our men to stand to the side of panels and electrical boxes when starting and stopping for just this reason.  The explosion startled the xxxx out of Javier but he was unhurt.

Note the hole that was blown through the panel next to the meter.  The inside was completely incinerated.  We could not determine the cause of the fire.  Our vendor, Central Valley Pump, with cooperation from Turlock Irrigation District (our power company), got us pumping again in only 28 hours.

 Candycots Puzzle

Here are two pictures of the same Candycot tree.  The first limb has lots of fruit and will need to be thinned.  The remainder of the tree barely has a fruit to be found.  We are trying to unravel the mystery of getting them to consistently produce.  Older plantings are doing better so it may just be a matter of maturity.

The fruit is so remarkably good it is worth the effort to figure out the puzzle of production.  I will be trying different irrigation and fertility regimes to see what works best.

THE PUSH AND THE PULL
In this photograph North is to the right and South is to the left.  We are back to windy again today and, as usual, the wind is from the North pushing the growth on this new tree to the South. The sun travels its' arc in the southern half of our sky.  You can see the bright light reflecting off the leaves on the left (South), and the North facing leaves are shaded.  Naturally, the tree grows toward the sun. If not staked and supported soon, this tree will grow up leaning hard to the South.

Monday and Tuesday (4/8 & 4/9) were unpleasantly windy!  The result of all those limbs being whipped around and rubbing together can be seen on the ground.  Some of the lost nuts were loosely attached and would have been lost during the "June Drop" (which usually occurs in May!), but there are good nuts lost as well. 

Looking out my (mobile) office window was beautiful today. Quintessential bucolic! 

thunder storms

We have had a few days over the past week with showers, maybe 3/4 of an inch accumulation in some places, less in most.  Last weekend we had a spectacular light show as thunderstorms moved through.  Thunder showers bring free Nitrogen as the lightning fixes atmospheric N into plant useable forms, but it also brings the risk of hail. (No hail damage yet this year)