The party’s over and it is almost time for plum trees to crash! After a summer spent sizing up sweet fruit for harvest, plum trees are dropping their leaves and getting ready for a winters rest.Growers measure the hours the tree has spent in weather below 45°. Most of the California varieties need between 700 and 1,000 chill hours before bloom in spring.
Part of what makes the San Joaquin Valley so unique for growing Stonefruit is the cold winters and dense fog layer. While the hot summer sun helps trees pack nutrients and natural sugars into the fruit, our fog layer during the winter helps each tree get the necessary “Chill Hours.” The layer of fog helps keep the valley floor 10°-20° cooler than it would be without.
Below is plum grower Paul Buxman talking about some of the other features of the Valley that help produce great plums.
Parlier, California - Rod Milton is a California peach, plum and nectarine grower in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley. I had the chance to talk with him this summer out in one of his plum orchards. We were working on a video project called PPN TV, a collection of short clips from California growers that is intended to let them share some of their history and family stories.
Over the past few years agriculture and farming have been a larger topic of interest to most Americans. Modern day “Victory Gardens” are popping up in urban areas and the general public just wants to know where their food is coming from. Even the USDA is launching a new program called “Know your Farmer, know your food.” Some are skeptical of the program, some are not, either way the message sounds great.
California growers have grouped together to make these videos to help reconnect with their consumers. They want to share their personalities and prospectives with everyone and would like to hear back as well. There are plenty of opinions, some misguided about agriculture today, why not hear one right from the growers heart. Any comment posted on Plumbelievable, or the video sites with their clips will get back to the growers.
