The stone fruit crop in California is progressing well. The storms that impacted California over the past month seem to have left no damaging affect on the crops. The set looks good for almost every type of variety in the state. The main challenge some growers are facing is the need for labor to thin the crop on some heavy set orchards. The stone fruit crop in the Fresno area seems to be running about three days behind last year in maturity. This would still be a very early season by traditional standards. It is expected that there will be some apricots harvested in that area in about three weeks. The north part of the state seems to be even further ahead of where they were last year. The current warm weather pattern should help move these crops along as well.
