—by Ross Courtney
Drew Ketelsen of HMC Farms discusses high-density, planar tree programs in a plum block throughout the Worldwide Fruit Tree Affiliation summer season tour close to Fresno, California, on July 18. (Ross Courtney/Good Fruit Grower)
The sprawling flatland of California’s southern Central Valley dominates U.S. stone fruit manufacturing. And the Worldwide Fruit Tree Affiliation tour group noticed loads of it on the ultimate day of the summer season research tour by way of Central California, held July 16–18.
Braving three-digit highs, the sunscreen-lathered group hit 4 of the nation’s largest stone fruit producers and the College of California’s Kearney Agricultural Analysis and Extension Heart.
In any respect stops, audio system mentioned efforts to transform from the massive, spacious timber of custom to the high-density, planar programs that make employees — and any instruments they could use — extra environment friendly.
Many growers at the very least prepare younger timber on trellis wires, whereas others use them formally for the lifetime of the orchard, as apple growers do. Platforms, mechanical thinners and hedgers are frequent instruments. Two robotic harvester corporations — largely designing for Washington’s apple orchards — run trials on Fresno-area stone fruit early within the season.
A couple of growers use nets, however not all the time for shade.
Warmerdam Orchards erected angled netting to assist their plums cycle by way of dormancy every year, that means they deploy the nets within the winter, stated John Warmerdam. The black, specialty material limits the timber’ publicity to gentle wavelengths that would sign the timber to get up from dormancy too early.
Simply this summer season, close by HMC Farms put up single-row unstructured netting to guard peaches from hail and rain, stated Drew Ketelsen, a part of the household that owns the orchard. When a warmth wave arrived earlier in July, crews pulled up the perimeters of some rows simply to experiment with how netting will change the timber’ response to the excessive temperatures.
On the UC Kearney area station, retired extension specialist Kevin Day confirmed the tour group trials of coaching programs on the Controller sequence of rootstocks, one of some vigor-controlling choices to switch the trade normal Nemaguard. •
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