The heat is on, the cots and peaches are off

We've put in long days the past week as the cots and peaches came on fast. The good news is that temperatures were mild so both we and the fruit held up fairly well. The bad news is that we are now in the middle of a multi-day hot spell that will likely ruin any cots still on the trees.

Apricots, especially our Royal Blenheims, are very delicate and prone to damage from heat. This is often a problem since our hilltop location tends to stay warmer than valley areas at night. And since Royals ripen first from the inside, when we get several days of high heat the apricots build up too much heat inside and suffer from "pit burn," decay around the pit. Heat and drying winds also cause the skin to shrivel.

We are still trying to salvage some cots still on the trees, but with each additional hot day more are damaged and unsaleable.

Shriveled apricot skin caused by 100+ degree
temperatures and dry north wind

Peaches set a new record for a short season, ripening so fast that we got them all off in only three pickings over one week instead of the usual 6-7 pickings over two weeks. Despite the loss of some cots we are feeling satisfied that we've made good use of most of the crops so far, filling orders for many appreciative customers and restaurants. So we are now moving on to picking plums and figs.

One pleasant surprise is how well the trees appear to be holding up to their third dry year in a row. I know they will be looking stressed in another month or so, but for now their leaves are open and full even on this 103 degree afternoon. Despite very dry soil and having only very limited drip irrigation available, they have put on near normal (which is to say explosive) growth and are a vibrant green. 

We hope for early fall rains to bring them relief.

Apricot trees show 3'-4' long shoot growth despite the dry winter

Peach trees are thick with lush growth