Monterey - 8/28/2014

 HARVEST RECORD!
Not a yield record, but a record early harvest for Monterey variety in Stanislaus County. This may have happened in southern counties in the past, but, to my knowledge, never this early here. The shake is clean and the nuts are filled out, this is not due to stress.  (OK, full disclosure, this site is technically in Merced County, but it is right next to the county line with Stanislaus)

Spinner Type Micro Sprinklers, Stressed Pollenators

    Drip Vs. Micros
During orchard establishment an important decision is choosing the type of irrigation system. Most new orchards use some sort of micro irrigation system because of energy and water efficiency and improved production. There are pros and cons to each type of system.
One difference is very evident this time of year. Micro sprinklers must be turned off after the first variety is shaken to the ground to avoid getting the nuts wet. This can result in stress to the other varieties that are still carrying a crop. Drip lines allow us to continue to irrigate the later varieties and avoid that stress.

Drip Irrigation, Pollenators Not Stressed

Nonpareil harvest is in full swing. Here is a nice windrow in some 5th leaf trees, and nuts being loaded for a trip to the huller.
Our huller is telling us that most growers are coming in lighter than last year. We are a fortunate exception to that so far with improvements over last year in the blocks we have harvested.

Harvest is in full swing in our area. The sound of shakers can be heard everywhere and a lot of nuts are on the ground. Here we are picking up wind-rowed Nonpareil. The yield of the first orchard we completed was improved from last year and in this one it looks like it will be about the same as last year. Interestingly, our hullerman is reporting that so far, most local growers are picking up fewer loads than last year. We will know much more about yields in a couple weeks.

We started shaking Monday, 7/28/2014, about 2 weeks earlier than average. Nut removal is pretty good, a few too dry, and a few green, so we hit the timing about right. This orchard is our earliest to mature every year, and a good producer.

BLANKS! Sometimes a nut appears to be maturing normally, but inside, things are not going well. Usually these "nuts" are the first to split. When the shell in opened to inspect the nut, it is like getting a fortune cookie with a little note that says "no fortune here"!
My impression is that there are far fewer blanks this year than typical.

With a quick look at many almond trees it appears that we should be shaking in just a few days. An early start would be great to get the nuts out of harms way (especially with all the talk of El Nino possibly bringing rain in September).

A closer look at the interior of this same tree reveals that there are many unopened nuts and that harvest is further off than the first impression would lead us to believe.  This orchard may be ready toward the end of next week, about July 25. We just have to keep checking and wait until they are ready.

The almond crop is maturing earlier than usual, by close to two weeks. I took this picture on the third of July as we were applying the last of the hull split spray to this block. We finished the last of the Nonpareil blocks today. The hull split spray protects the opening nuts from Peach Twig Borer and Navel Orangeworm.

 The slightest hint of separation along the suture line is an indication that hull split is not far off. I think we will be seeing hull split before the end of June. That would be earlier than average but not highly unusual.

It is great to see vigorous new growth on these eight year old trees in addition to carrying a good size crop. We are blessed to have had adequate water so far this year.

 CandyCots are getting ripe so it is time for harvest!

Each fruit is selected for ripeness and hand picked. Over a two or three week time period, about 5 picking passes will be made across the orchard. It is a lot of walking and looking and is tiring work.

The fruit is placed into "totes" which are lined with plastic film to nest each individual fruit. Each harvester has to make important decisions about ripeness and quality. Bird damaged, insect damaged, and cracked fruit is discarded in the field. As the totes are filled they are placed into a refrigerated truck for transport to the packing shed.

A tote full of fruit (and a camera) brings out the smiles!

Here the entire crew of 10 meets with their boss, the farm labor contractor. I am very pleased with this crews sustained efforts at doing a quality job.

After all the ripe fruit is picked, a day or two are spent waiting for the remaining fruit to mature. These days are spent productively with pruning. The pruning will help expose the interior wood to sunlight to promote fruitfulness next year. It also allows sunlight to penetrate the interior of the trees to hasten the ripening of the remaining fruit.

The CandyCot packing shed is busy this time of year!

What beautiful days we have had this week! Highs in the 70's and puffy white clouds. Not to worry though, we will be in the 90's by this weekend. Nice to have a break though.

             Bob Curtis, Danielle Veenstra, Robbie Commens

Today, Bob Curtis and Danielle Veenstra of the Almond Board of California hosted several farm visits for Robbie Commens, Productivity Development Officer of the Australian Macadamia Society. His intent is to find practices used in almond production that might apply to macadamias. I found it very interesting to hear of their production challenges. He stated that the California Almond industry is admired worldwide for our nutrition and production research and our information transfer to the farm level. He is right, we're the best!