Prunes: From Buds through Fruit Thinning

A great deal goes into a successful prune crop. In part one of a two-part panel, Franz Niederholzer (UCCE Colusa), Jaime Ott (UCCE Tehama), Becky Wheeler-Dykes (UCCE Glenn) and host Luke Milliron (UCCE Butte) talk about the formation of fruit buds all the way through to fruit thinning in spring. Topics include weather at bloom, the importance of weather the 30 days after bloom, and a calculator that helps prune growers shaker thin fruit in order to produce a quality crop. We finish the first part of the yearly prune cycle by discussing the exciting new Green Atlas Cartographer ATV that can bring precision agriculture to prune production by mapping fruit load in each tree ahead of shaker thinning in spring.    In part two we will complete the yearly cycle by talking about summer fruit development, key financial considerations at harvest, and promoting an excellent return bloom in 2026.

Come to an upcoming extension meeting!

In the San Joaquin Valley: Tuesday August 19: Stone Fruit Roundtable in Dinuba.  

And finally, the 2025 International School on Microirrigation for Crop Production: Class Lectures at UC Davis October 13-15, and field trips October 16-17.

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the University of California. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only. The "University of California" name and all forms and abbreviations are the property of its owner and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service.

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Thank you to the Almond, Pistachio, Prune, and Walnut Boards of California for their kind donations. Thank you to Muriel Gordon for the music.