Trees & Vines

Sarb Johl of Johl Family Farms in Yuba County says growers need to manage their expectations in a smaller canning-peach sector.

Photo/Robyn Rominger

At Scully Packing Co. in Lake County, employees Leticia Arias, from left, Pilar Hernandez and Rigoberto Jimenez pack boxes of California Bartlett pears at the company’s facility in Finley. Packinghouse owner and pear grower Pat Scully said this season’s crop is sizing nicely.

Photo/Christine Souza

To protect walnut trees from the flatheaded borer, researchers say farmers should remove weakened, injured, dead or flagged branches to target mature larvae that overwinter in infected wood.

Photo/Vicky Boyd

Luis Guillermo Velasquez, front, and José Martínez pull leaves last week at a Dutton Ranch vineyard in Sonoma County. This time last year, North Coast vineyards were already harvesting winegrapes, but the cool spring has delayed fruit development and harvest.

Photo/Fred Greaves

Winegrapes grow in Anderson Valley in Mendocino County. Vineyard growers in Mendocino and Sonoma counties say proposed water-quality regulations are costly and duplicate efforts by growers who participate in sustainability certification programs.

Floodwaters inundated almond orchards in San Joaquin County in January, overwhelming farmers’ ability to pump out excess water. Many trees were later infected by a water mold, Phytophthora.

Photo/Vicky Boyd

Earlier this year, Hartnell College students Marcos Arteaga, left, and Napolean Navarro get hands-on experience through one of the school’s agricultural technology courses in Monterey County.

Photo/Hartnell College

Thomas Gradziel, a plant geneticist at the University of California, Davis, examines a Kader peach variety at an experimental orchard. He says the peach sector is breeding varieties that are firmer and more adaptable to machine harvesting and that are better equipped for challenges of climate change.

Photo/Christine Souza

A truck in a Tulare County citrus grove is tarped to prevent hitchhiking Asian citrus psyllids.

Photo/Courtesy Citrus Pest and Disease Prevention Program

Sprinklers irrigate a San Joaquin County almond orchard. A new mobile irrigation audit program helps growers evaluate groundwater pressure and irrigation system flow rates and overall efficiency.

Photo/Vicky Boyd

At Terra Bella Ranches in Santa Barbara County, workers place avocados in picking sacks. A persistent labor shortage has challenged California’s avocado sector, which relies on workers to hand-pick the fruit from trees that primarily grow on hillsides.

Photo/Courtesy Sheldon Bosio

At an experimental almond in Colusa County, University of California researchers are working with almond growers to manage orchard weeds to reduce costs of herbicide treatments. Research was presented at the Nickels Soil Laboratory annual field day in Arbuckle.

Photo/Robyn Rominger

Florent Trouillas, a University of California, Davis, plant pathologist, inspects a cherry tree in Lodi. Researchers say threats may be rising for diseases in tree crops after heavy storms.
Photo/University of California, Davis

Winegrape acreage fans out in Monterey County’s Santa Lucia Highlands, including the vineyards of Mer Soleil, foreground. The region has become renowned for growing pinot noir and chardonnay. 

Photo/Steve Mack/Monterey County Vintners and Growers Association

San Joaquin County cherry farmer James Chinchiolo checks the status of Coral cherries. With harvest set to begin this week, he says he will likely need to pick twice due to fruit ripening at different rates. Growers throughout the state report a delayed harvest because of the cool spring.

Photo/Ching Lee

Buck Serres and his son, Cannon Serres, examine their crop during harvest at the family’s blueberry farm in Mendocino County. The sixth-generation farming family has long grown winegrapes in Sonoma County. Now they produce sparkling canned wine made from a blend of grapes and blueberries.
Photo/Karen Pavone

Yolo County almond farmer Kirk Pumphrey employs precision metering to reduce groundwater use. He partners with researchers at the University of California, Davis, in groundwater management studies.
Photo/University of California, Davis

California almond growers welcome more water this year from winter and spring storms, but they express concern that honeybees used for pollination did not get enough warm and sunny flight days to effectively set this year’s crop. Almond sector leaders say it will take some time before they fully understand the impact of unfavorable weather during bloom in February.

Photo/Ching Lee