Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Cankers observed on some wood colony variety almond trees.

Can someone call the tree doctor please?

We noticed a condition on some of the Wood Colony that caused some concern.

Gary Layne (Mid Valley Ag), Prof Roger Duncan (UC David) and Aaron Hackler (Wilbur-Ellis) all came out to look at it, and no one could identify it with certainty.

It appears similar to Ceratocystis canker which often is caused by shaker damage, but many of these cankers are higher on the tree, on scaffolds and limbs, where no shaker has been. It is only on the Wood Colony variety. It could have been a fungal disease called Aerial Phytophthora. We ll have to continue to observe and evaluate our options.



Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Bloom time. Let the bees play!

A good chill during Dec/Jan months followed by a slightly warmer Feb coaxes the first almond tree blossoms from their buds.



Peach blooms at Whitmore ranch: