From the Fields - Zack Stuller

By Zack Stuller, Tulare County farmer

We are pretty much finished harvesting the majority of our plums. We started harvesting plums in the first part of June. Then we took a short break and picked things up again this month with our mid-season, fresh-market plums. We have a few late varieties. We will start picking one in early August. Some will get picked in September. We were fortunate that in the past few years, finding employees hasn’t been that big of an issue, but hiring labor costs more.

We had what we call a “plum glut,” where all the plums come off the trees at once. It was a good yield year, but the heat messed us up. When the plums get ripe, it’s not a sunburn issue. Once the fruit gets sugar in it, they cook, and it’s very difficult to grade out. A majority of our plum varieties became ripe during those consecutive days of 110-degree, 115-degree days. Some of the fruit suffered, but we’re going to be OK. However, it was a bummer because we had a good crop on the tree.

When you look at all the historical averages and how many days that exceeded 100 degrees, the temperatures don’t seem to be that far out of whack. The several weeks of high heat was hard on everybody on the ranch, so the break we’re having is very welcomed.

We farm all varieties of citrus such as lemons, navels, Valencias and a lot of mandarins. Citrus harvest went until mid-June. Now, we’re in the middle of pruning, topping, fertilizing and watering. The citrus trees don’t really get affected too much by the heat. The winter citrus crop on the tree looks pretty good.

For the past two years, we have been very blessed with water. We do have short memories. Not too long ago, we were lowering pumps and facing prolonged drought. I just know it’s going to be our turn in the barrel again.