speaking of almonds
- To: g*@club-internet.fr, "m*@ucdavis.edu"
- Subject: speaking of almonds
- From: L* H*
- Date: Sun, 08 Apr 2001 14:46:41 -0700
In the almond orchard of the Hoag ranch, in the Sutter Buttes in California.
We had temps of 34 degrees at 2:00am this morning and had to turn on the
sprinklers. We kept the temp at 32. We hope we saved the small nuts.
Oh the life of an orchardist.
L
At 08:32 PM 4/8/01 +0100, Gordon Walker wrote:
>In France there are also two plants called "néflier", one German( the
>Mespilus species which I have never seen planted) and the other which is
>Eriobotrya japonica. This latter is planted all over the Midi, where I
>guess it must tolerate temperatures down to -10°C or so, but the chances
>of its fruiting increases significantly with nearness to the
>Mediterranean.
>Where I used to live was about 50 miles from the sea and fruit ripened
>about one year in three. Now , at 10 miles from the sea, fruit will
>ripen most years. I suspect that the critical temperature is about -4°C
>but I have no idea whether this applies to the flowers or the fruit. I
>do know that for the almond tree the relevant temperatures are -3°C in
>flower and -1°C in fruit.
> Perhaps this is why these trees, which are grown commercialy for their
>nuts here, have such a long flowering season, of almost two months from
>mid January to mid March, with the last frost normally in early March,
>so that there is a good probability that some fruiting will take place.
>
>It seems likely then that winter cold will not be too much of a problem
>in coastal west Cumberland but whether the sping and early summer would
>provide sufficient warmth there is, for an old Workingtonian, much more
>doubtful!
>
>
>--
>Gordon Walker
>France
