The state farm bureau tells us you should begin to find California apricots in stores as early as this weekend and through mid-June.
Apricot Producers of California says the trees bloomed early, but cool spring weather delayed fruit maturing. Farmers expect the crop to produce about the same amount of fruit as last year.
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Temperatures are on their way up now, but the recent cool weather, delayed the state's cherry crop.
While cherry supplies may be tighter than normal in these early weeks of harvest, growers, packers and marketers say there will be plenty of California cherries in the coming weeks.
The State Farm Bureau reports California could produce a record crop this year. Farmers in the Northern San Joaquin Valley, where most of the state's cherries are grown, are experiencing an above-average crop this year. Growers have had to thin their trees to try to boost fruit size.
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Plant pathologists are already recommending farmers and gardeners take steps to avoid another outbreak of "late blight." The disease destroyed millions of dollars worth of tomatoes in the eastern U.S. last summer.
Experts say tomato growers can spray pesticides to try to prevent infection, but once late blight takes hold, the plants are lost. The disease likes cool, wet conditions and can survive during the winter in vegetables like potatoes buried underground.
Growers need to watch for black patches on tomato stems, leaves and fruit. Infected plants must be pulled up, bagged and thrown out.
