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OBSERVATIOHS IN CALIFGHMIa 



The grcfvn.ng season out here is pretty v:ell advancod now. Hand thinning of 

 most fruit crops has been completed or is about over, Sv;eet cherries are being 

 picked ncrtT (middle to latter part cf Hay) and corae are being packed for eastern 

 shipment. Packing of street cherries is strictly a hand operation and it seemed 

 to me that this job requires considerable skill. The cherries are packed in rorrs 

 with the same number of cherries in each row, 



I vias surprised to find that grovrers are interested in the possibilities of 

 chemical thinners for sweet cherries, A premium is paid for large size and in some 

 of the sv/eet cherxT- districts the set of fruit can be so heavy that much of the 

 fruit may be smaller than desired, Since no chemical thinning procedures have 

 teen developed some growers have done a limited amount of hand thinning on sweet 

 cherries , 



Apricots will comraence to ripen in early June, I'm looking forvirard to seeing 

 and tasting this fruit when tree ripe, I imagine they'll taste a lot better out 

 here than they do after shipment across the country. Peaches are as big as golf 

 balls now and the hand thinning of this fruit is nearly done. 



Speaking of peaches I had a chance to travel through the cling peach area in 

 Sutter County last week. This section which is planted to about 15^000 acres of 

 cling peaches is located about iiO miles north of Sacramento, Last vdnter when 

 unusually heavy rains fell in December sizeable areas near Yuba City and iiarysville 

 were flooded. In some orchards one can see (vrhere litter still hangs in the trees) 

 that some orchards were immersed in 8 to 10 feet of v/ater. In some of these areas, 

 many peach trees have died or are dying. Almonds show some injury from flooding, 

 also. However, walnuts and plums appear to be uninjured following similar flooding. 



One of the problems facing peach growers in these flood areas where the trees 

 are dead or dying is the old peach replant problem (peaches planted after peaches 

 often do not grow well). In California, the peach replant problem exists for both 

 cling and freestone peaches north of Modesto, Tlie failure of peaches to do as well 

 after peaches as they do on "virgin" soil is a general problem throughout this 

 country and in many foreign lands. Mo real solution to the problem has been found. 

 The trouble is very specific to the peach. For example, almonds or apricots pro- 

 pagated on peach root may not grow well on old peach sites either. The peach re- 

 plant problem here has not been solved by soil treatments for nematodes or oak 

 root fungus - although such treatments may help improve tree grovrth where serious 

 infestations of nematodes or root disease organisms are present. The true peach 

 replant problem, which is related to toxic substances arising from old peach roots, 

 has not been solved by changes in fertilizer practice, either. 



Nutritional problems on deciduous tree fruits are plentiful in California, also, 

 Not only have deficiencies of boron, potassiuiu and magnesium been found here, as 

 they have in New England, but also deficiencies of manganese, iron, sine and copper 

 have been found. In addition, excess boron injury is apt to occur whenever the 

 irrigation v/ater contains more tlian 1,S ppm of boron, 



— F» V/, SouthvTxck 

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