What's Happening on the Farm

After all this talk about pollen tubes, embryos, and freeze damage, I though it would be a good idea to pull it all together.  Below is a picture of two blooms with the petals pulled off and the small almond exposed.  The bloom on the left side, failed to pollinate while the other has pollinated and has begun to make…

Bees are one of the most important workers in the almond orchard.  They carry pollen from different flowers and deposit it on the pistil (the pollen tube) where it can make its way down into the ovary and fertilize the bloom.  The bees aren’t trying to pollinate the bloom, though.  They are working to make their hive stronger by either…

WOW!  I have never seen this before.  If you look closely at this bloom, you will see three pollen tubes (pistils).  Each one is connected to an ovary below that, if pollinated, would produce an almond– in this case triplets. It is not uncommon to see “doubles” in the orchard.  This usually happens when the embryo splits and two almonds…

Well, this is a year that will be talked about for many years to come in the almond industry.  A cold low pressure system dropped down from the arctic and brought several days of sub-freezing temperatures to the entire almond producing region of California.  Temperatures of mid-20’s were prevalent in many areas and the crop will definitely suffer some damage…