Happy 40th Anniversary Earth Day!

Here in the Central Valley growers are celebrating a Earth Day by trying to protect their peaches from a stormy spring.

California peach trees are at a vulnerable point in their life cycle. They have blossomed, been pollinated and are now pushing nutrients out to new developing  fruit. The very very first varieties are going to be ready for harvest most likely in the next 3-4 weeks, but it’s not all smooth sailing up to that point.

Spring storms whipping up in the Pacific deliver much needed water to our aquifers, but also bring devastating hail that can destroy the fruit. Hail shreds leaves, scuffs fruit and sometimes knocks it right from the branches.

Some growers have invested in a device called a hail cannon they hope will dissipate the hail before it ever harms a tree.  A few years ago NPR did a story on the use of hail cannons in the Central Valley. Click here to listen in.

Tags: california storms, earth day, earth day 40th anniversary, hail cannons, peaches, spring storms

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 at 1:53 pm and is filed under Facts, Peach Growers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.