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Early blossom bloom has farmers fretting
by ALDRICH TAN/Democrat Correspondent

February 19, 2006

The branches of local grower Joe Martinez's almond trees may look bare, but tiny white buds are starting to burst out. Soon the tree's flowers will blossom and shortly after fill with almonds.

There's a catch, though.

"We're a week ahead of schedule," Martinez said this past week.

The almond bloom is earlier this year than normal due to the warmer weather, which may leave blossoming orchards vulnerable to more extreme weather conditions.

The cold of the past few days could affect the local crop, but as of Saturday it was unknown if the chilly temperatures would be a factor.

Almonds are not the only early bloomers in California. Several freestone peaches and clingpeach orchards in Sutter and Yuba county are experiencing early blooms, said Janine Hasey, a farm adviser in Sutter and Yuba County from UC Davis' Cooperative Extension.

Clingpeaches, also known as canning peaches, have pits that cling to the peach's flesh and need to be cut out. Freestone peaches are sold as fresh fruit. Hasey said she noticed that one early blooming variety of freestone peaches has started to bloom one week ahead of time.

"We had enough heat accumulation to break the buds," she said.

The early warm temperatures can affect an orchard crop's growth, Hasey said. Various crops, such as almonds and peaches, need enough chill hours, a period of cold weather, for flowers and leaf buds to develop normally.

A low chilling period means that peach orchards could have weaker or more "straggled" blooms, Hasey said. Fertilization will occur over a range of time, which means that the fruit's size and maturity may also vary.

The peach orchards' early blossoming may cause producers to shift their treatment of these orchards, Hasey said. Producers need to carefully watch the blossoms to determine when they will start applying fungicides, which they traditionally apply when the orchards are in "pink bud" and full blossom.

"Earlier blossoms will not be protected until the grower applies the first fungicide spray," she said.

Growers also need to monitor insect pests a pest that infests the fruit. Peach growers in Hasey's area have caught a few oriental fruit moths earlier than usual.

Regardless of the early blossoms, the possibility of an early peach harvest depends on the weather 30 days after the peach trees go into full bloom.

"Peach development rate is linked to exposure to heat after bloom," she said, "We had an early harvest in 2004 when we had warm March weather."

Not all the crops benefited from the sunny February weather. Small grains such as wheat, oats and barley need rain this month to grow, said Kent

Brittan, a farm adviser for Yolo County from UC Davis' Cooperative Extension. Otherwise, farmers would have had to turn to some expensive alternatives.

"Moisture is critical during the stage in which the grain head is forming in the plant," he said. "We've got good moisture in the heavier soils, through they are starting to crack, but in the sandy soils here, the soil is starting to dry out."

The warm weather was causing the grasses to grow faster, which leads to more problems, Brittan said. As the plant grow, the small grains start moving out of the soil and using the water faster.

Fortunately mid-month rain spared growers from the expense of irrigating crops. A large number of wheat fields are on tomato beds, Brittan said. Most small grain fields are set up with furrows that farmers can run water through in the same way they treat tomato crops.

"You would have to turn the pump on to get water," he said. "It can be very costly."

But mid-month rain could pose bad news for almonds. As long as the almond blossoms aren't in extreme weather conditions, they will fair well, said Christy Quaresma, spokeswoman for Almond Board of California.

"The bees [used to pollinate the almonds] need a favorable environment to fly around," she said.

Extreme conditions such as freezing temperatures or heavy rain can have a detrimental impact on the amount of almonds harvested in late summer, Quaresma said.

"California produces over 80 percent of the world's almonds," she said, "so if we have a poor bloom season, the global supply will be affected."

It's too early to tell if there is going to be an affect on the county's almond crop, grower Martinez said.

"Hopefully, Esparto won't have to move the date of its annual almond festival," Brittan said.

- Reporter Ben Antonius contributed to this report.
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