Prunes: Fruit Growth through Postharvest

A great deal goes into a successful prune crop. In part two or a two-part podcast on prune crop phenology we complete the yearly cycle by talking about summer fruit growth, key financial considerations at harvest, and finishing the season strong in the postharvest period. Luke Milliron assembled an expert panel of UCCE Farm Advisors, Franz Niederholzer (UCCE Colusa), Jaime Ott (UCCE Tehama), and Becky Wheeler-Dykes to talk about each step in prune fruit development from buds to harvest and back-again.

If you missed part one, that’s where we discussed the crop phenology and key management steps from fruit bud development through to fruit thinning. Topics included weather at bloom, the importance of weather the 30 days after bloom, a fruit thinning calculator, and we finished 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.

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.