By Vicky Boyd
San Joaquin County cherry growers breathed a collective sigh of relief as their crop appeared to have come through early May rains relatively unscathed, thanks to heroics and accompanying cooler temperatures.
Other crops also were mostly unharmed and some even benefited from up to an inch of rain, although the moisture may have increased disease pressure in some cases.
“For us, the rain was a non-event,” said Breanna Shales, marketing director for Wenatchee, Washington-based Stemilt Growers, which had already started to pack cherries at its Stemilt Chinchiolo plant in Stockton. The rain damage to cherries in the Stockton-Lodi area was minimal and didn’t slow harvest and packing, she said.
When unseasonable rains fell May 4, the cherry crop was just entering the sensitive stage. Rainwater on the fruit surface may readily move through the skin, swelling the flesh more than the skin. The result is cracked and unmarketable fruit. And the longer water remains on the fruit skin, the greater the risk of cracking.
Warm temperatures also may accelerate the water uptake by the fruit. Fortunately, growers said, temperatures during and after the storm were unusually cool.
As a protective measure, a few applied calcium chloride during the rain. The compound improves the fruit cuticle and changes the chemistry of rainwater, slowing its absorption through the skin and reducing cracking. That night after the rain, at least one hired a helicopter to fly low over the orchard to blow-dry the trees, kind of like the dryer used in commercial car washes. And the efforts appeared to have paid off.
Crop came through “pretty unscathed”
San Joaquin County Agricultural Commissioner Kamal Bagri said neither she nor her staff had heard of any damage to the cherry crop from the May 4 rain.
“The growers we spoke with were happy,” she said. “What they said was the cherries didn’t have any damage or issues.”
Her staff had been in area cherry packinghouses up to 16 hours per day to certify fruit for export, so they would have noticed abnormal cracking if it were there.
Bagri said initially she was concerned about smaller fruit, but the individual cherries gained size as they matured. The start of this year’s harvest also is on more of a normal schedule, unlike 2023 when it was delayed by at least a week to 10 days.
“Hopefully with the early start, they will have good prices,” she said. “The prices dumped last year because it was such a late season and the Washington crop game in.”
In its April estimate, the California Cherry Board forecast a statewide crop of 10.2 million 18-pound box equivalents with relatively normal timing. That’s significantly more than the 8.7-million-carton 2023 estimate, which was also marred by a late harvest. The Stockton-Lodi district accounts for more than 60% of the state’s crop.
Donald Drake, who farms cherries with his brother, Dennis, near Linden, said they came through the rainstorm “pretty unscathed.”
“There’s some cracking,” he said. “There’s some damage, but it doesn’t look too bad currently.”
What Drake remained concerned about were microcracks that may not have been apparent when the fruit was still on the trees. Once those cherries hit the hydrocoolers in the packinghouse, water may enter the microcracks, expand the flesh and rupture the fruit.
About one to two hours before the storm ended, Drake met Dennis at their shop and got their air-blast sprayer and blower ready. Once the rain stopped, they made a couple of passes in their orchard to dry off the trees before moving to a friend’s orchard to do the same.
Ken Vogel, who farms cherries and walnuts with his son near Linden, said they were fortunate to have hardly any rain damage. He credited the time of day, clouds, winds before sunset and a cold night for allowing them to skate through.
“The early varieties look good,” he said. “The Bings have problems with spurs and doubles, but nothing like last year’s problems.”
The spurs and doubles were due to issues during pollination and not from the rain.
So far, Shales said, the quality of this year’s California cherry crop has been “outstanding.” Stemilt Chinchiolo started picking and packing in San Joaquin County in late April and expected to continue until about the second week of June. Washington is expecting to start its cherry season the beginning of June, so there will be some market overlap but not like what it was last year, she said.
In 2023, California’s cherry season was extremely late, and Washington’s started on a more normal schedule. The result was an over-supply of cherries in the market in June, and many California growers didn’t pick late-season fruit because of low prices.
May rains were welcomed
Les Strojan, who raises cattle and forage crops with his son near Farmington, actually welcomed the May rain since it helped finish off their non-irrigated grass hay.
“I don’t know if we got all that much rain this year, but what we got was spread out pretty well,” said Strojan, San Joaquin Farm Bureau first vice president. “I think it’s probably some of the best grass we’ve had in years.”
They rely on the right mix of well-timed rains as well as mild temperatures during late winter into spring. Last year, the cold weather and near-record precipitation resulted in poor grass growth and lower yields.
Joe Valente, a Lodi-area winegrape vineyard manager, said the rains followed by recent warm weather in mid-May caused a bit of powdery mildew, mainly on the chardonnay – a susceptible variety. But he’s not overly concerned because he has a strong fungicide program and has been applying material when the Gubler-Thomas powdery mildew index forecasts a high risk.
Developed by University of California, Davis, researchers, the index factors in temperature in the vine canopy and leaf wetness to predict a low, medium or high risk of powdery mildew developing.
“The main thing is trying to keep the powdery mildew off the berries themselves, and we’re just going through bloom right now,” Valente said. “We’ll just stay on a good (fungicide) program from now through veraison.”
On the other hand, the rains were beneficial as they increased soil moisture, allowing Valente to skip irrigating for a bit, “so that’s a savings,” he said.
