Fruits & Nuts

Almonds are harvested when the shell is cracked and brown. Freeze nuts for 1-2 weeks to kill resident worms, store nuts in plastic bags to prevent re-infestation, and spray the tree with fixed copper during or after leaf fall but before rains start to reduce damage from shot hole fungus.

Walnuts are fully mature when the green hull begins to break away from the shell. Harvest by polling or shaking the tree. Remove the green hulls, then freeze nuts in the shell to kill any resident worms. Store in plastic.

The harvest for apples, and some varieties of pears (Bosc, Comice, Winter Nellis, and some Asian Pears), is likely coming to a close. When harvest is finished, irrigate and fertilize the trees as you have been. Clean up fallen leaves and fruit and discard to prevent apple scab and coddling moth.

The brown patch that looks like a turtle's back is called Carapace Spot. It is corky and usually cracked into angular divisions. It is caused by rubbing or brushing of tender young fruit on leaves or stems in the wind, but the fruit is usually undamaged under the spot. Just cut out the spot. More pictures of avocado problems can be found on UC Pest Note On Causes of Avocado Fruit Damage.

The bare roots should be soaked from an hour to overnight (large plants) in a bucket of water before planting. Trim roots of broken, dead, or spongy bits and carefully pull the roots apart. Dig a hole that is fairly shallow and wide. Spread the roots out sideways and have the crown of the plant several inches above the soil level. This is necessary as the plant will settle down over time. Water in well but wait to fertilize until you see new shoots growing. Be sure to water regularly if the rains are sparse. Staking may not be necessary.

Trees aren't the only plants that are sold bare root. You can also plant bare-root asparagus, artichokes, rhubarb, berries, kiwifruit, horseradish, rhubarb, grapes, roses, strawberries, and iris in January.

More information: Planting Bare-Root Fruit Trees

Bitter pit is a physiological disorder that affects many varieties of apples. The condition develops after fruit has been picked. It is caused by low levels of calcium in fruit tissues which leads to small brown, sunken lesions that become dark and corky. Highly susceptible cultivars include Red Delicious, Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Jonathan and Gravenstein. The UC Bitter Pit Pest Note recommends cultural practices for control.

For even more information, the UC Postharvest Technology Center website has grower information, including using calcium sprays starting in June.

Depending on the variety, you may be harvesting blueberries from your garden right now. Blueberries in stores often come from cooler climates like Oregon and Maine, yet there are several varieties of blueberries that do well in our warmer climate with a little extra care. They all need regular water and well-draining soil with a lower pH (more acidic) than our local native soil. Adding elemental sulfur is a good way to acidify the soil. Harvest blueberries on almost a daily basis, especially if you want to beat the birds and squirrels to the ripe berries. The blueberries are ready to eat when they are uniformly blue/purple, even on the bottom. They should come off easily with a slight tug. Annual post-harvest pruning will stimulate new growth and increase yield. Details are available in a video presentation by a local UC Master Gardener.

They feed and reproduce on a variety of plants and are particularly damaging to fruit. You can cut cosmetic damage off fruit and still eat the rest of the fruit. To keep out stink bugs, cover vegetable plants with row covers. You can pick the bugs off plants and squish them or knock them off into soapy water. They are attracted to light and can get into homes where if vacuumed up, they can stink up your vacuum bag.

If your apricots or peaches had brown flesh last year, especially in the part surrounding the pit, they were probably infected with brown rot. It's a common fungal disease of stone fruit. You can spray with a copper spray at pink bud stage. A more important means of control is to remove affected fruit as soon as you notice it. The UC Pest Note on Brown Rot has more information.

Have you ever seen weirdly shaped lemons or oranges that appear to have 'fingers'? This condition is caused by the Citrus Bud Mite. 

It attacks newly forming flowers and fruits. The mite is only visible with a magnifying glass and has a elongated yellow body with four legs that appear to come out of its head. The mites feed inside the buds, killing them or causing a rosette-like growth of the subsequent foliage and distortion of flowers and fruit. The problem is usually limited to just a few fruit on the tree.

Previously recommended oil sprays have not been proved effective. This is one of those pests that is best left alone. The oddly-shaped fruit is edible.

For more information see UC Pest Note on Citrus Bud Mite.

Honey bee on citrus blossom

Blood meal without all the fillers is an excellent source of nitrogen, or you can purchase a balanced product that contains zinc. Spread the fertilizer evenly over the entire root area and water in.

For more information, refer to the UC Pest Note on Fertilizing Citrus, and Questions and Answers to Citrus Management from the UC Davis Home Orchard website.

Your oranges are ready to pick when they turn a nice bright orange. The ones on the sunny side of the tree generally ripen first. If you don't get to them first, there are critters that will let you know when they are ripe. Snails leave little holes in the outside peel, rats hollow out the fruit, and squirrels carry them off, often leaving partly eaten fruit on a nearby fence. UC offers a detailed table to help identify citrus damage from insects and other pests.

Leaf drop from citrus trees is normal. Washington Navel oranges may lose over 3,000 leaves a day during peak leaf drop in the spring. Valencia oranges may lose about 1500 a day. Problems that can cause excessive leaf drop beyond these numbers are lack of water and a heavy infestation of spider mites. The tree's leaves will have brown spots if affected by the mites. You can wash them off with a strong water spray. Bud and small fruit drop is also normal. For further information see UC Pest Note on Diseases and Disorders of Citrus Leaves and Twigs.

More information: Citrus Leafminer

Pruning is not needed for fruit productivity yet may be desired for size management. Pruning will also help control scale and aphid infestations. If you see ants in the tree, use a sticky goo (such as Tanglefoot) on the trunk to keep them out of the tree. Be sure to apply the goo on top of tape rather than directly on the trunk. The ants 'protect' the scale and aphids. If you see scale (bumps on bark), thoroughly spray with horticultural oil to suffocate them.

Yellowing of leaves is normal this time of year as the iron that keeps the leaves green is chemically unavailable because the soil is too cold. When the soil warms up (over 60° F), check for yellowing. You may not need to apply a nitrogen fertilizer if the new leaves are green.

Refer to the UC Home Orchard web site for more Citrus Care information.

Sooty mold on citrus may be a byproduct of sucking insects such as aphid, mealy bug, soft scale or whitefly. Ants will protect these pests against predators in exchange for the honeydew that the pests produce. The sooty mold grows on the honeydew. Try washing off the sucking insects with a strong water stream. The next step is control of the ants. Ants may be managed by applying a sticky compound around the trunk and trimming limbs touching buildings or other access points. Baits at the base of the tree also help. For more information about specific controls, see the UC Pest Note on Sooty Mold.

Pick up fallen fruit daily to prevent attracting critters or diseases. If your fruit is being eaten at night then rats are the likely culprit, if it's during the day it may be squirrels. Holes, rather than bites, are made by birds. In addition to harvesting regularly, ripening fruit can be protected with a netting fine enough to exclude birds and small animals

Codling moth larvae bore into the center of fruit to feed. Note the excrement, including the frass pushed out of the entry hole, Jack Kelly Clark, UC.

Trees should be monitored every week for signs of infestation. Infested fruit should be removed and discarded to break the codling moth life cycle. Sanitation is an important non-chemical step in controlling this pest. Make sure to pick up fallen fruit promptly, and pick apples with holes that are still on the tree. This will keep future populations down.

Pheromone traps can be hung in isolated trees. But if you have just one apple tree don't bother. You will just attract codling moths to your tree.

Fruit can be bagged for protection, but this method is very labor-intensive. Heavy infestations may require the use of pesticides, but proper timing of sprays is critical. Read the UC Codling Moth Pest Note for more information.

If you have more fruit than you know what to do with, dehydration can be an excellent way to preserve it. Apricots, apples, pears, figs, and tomatoes are all great candidates for drying. While making jams, jellies, cobblers, and pies is one way to use up an abundant harvest, they add fat and sugar to our diet, dried fruit can be a healthy alternative! Onions and garlic can also be dehydrated to last indefinitely.

Also see the publication on Dehydrating Basics by the UCCE Master Food Preservers of Amador/Calaveras Counties.

Spray apple, pear, peach and nectarine, apricot trees with horticultural oil during the dormant period to control scale, and aphid and mite eggs. For more information on using horticultural oil to control pests consult:
- UC Pest Note on Scales
- UC Pest Note on Aphids
- UC Pest Note on Spider Mites

Cottony cushion scale on apple tree, by Laura Monczynski

More information: Cottony Cushion Scale Pest Note

Parts of a raspberry plant, University of Minnesota Extension

More Information: Blackberries and Raspberries

More Information: Drought or Disease

This psyllid has been a real problem in California. New leaves on the infected Eugenia look very much like peach leaf curl. The leaves also may become discolored. Thanks to the diligent work of the entomology researchers in biological insect control at UC Berkeley, a parasitic wasp called Tamarixia was released in Santa Clara County in 1993. The wasp is known to go as far as 45 miles and is found throughout the county. It is essential that no insecticide be used on Eugenia species. The Tamarixia wasp cannot do its job if it's poisoned. For more information see the UC Pest Note on Psyllids.

As fruit starts to develop, trees and vines use nutrients to help with this energy-intensive task. This is a good time to plan a strategy for fertilizing your trees.

In the first year, a very light application of nitrogen (N) is desirable for most soils. Do not make first year applications before six to eight inches of new growth occurs. Split applications are safest, one or two months apart, so one application might be made this month.

After the first year: research indicates that summer fertilizer applications (August to mid-September) are more efficient than late winter (traditional) applications.

Fully mature fruit trees may not need fertilizing. Read more at UC Home Orchard Fertilization page.

As your young trees grow bigger and stronger, remove supporting stakes or loosen the straps as early as possible. Some movement of the tree is important to make it healthier in the long run. If the tree is able to stand on its own, it will develop a thicker trunk with a taper at the bottom.

If you've had major pest infestations on your fruit trees this year, now is a good time to use dormant oil sprays. These are used to reduce overwintering populations of insects. They work by smothering soft-bodied insects and eggs when applied at the proper times in the life cycles of the pests. See our Fruit Tree and Vine Care Calendar for more information.

When pruning dormant fruit trees, you may want to save cuttings (scions) for later grafting onto other fruit trees. Grafting is a technique that allows you to have multiple varieties of compatible fruit on one tree and is a great space saver. It works by joining the vascular tissues of a shoot (scion) from one tree to a different tree that provides the root system. If the graft is successful, the scion will continue to grow and maintain the characteristics and fruit of the scion plant. Fruit trees can have new varieties grafted to them when they are dormant in January and February.

Scions are available in January or February at the California Rare Fruit Growers (CRFG scion exchange). Their January event also includes training classes. Check the CRFG - Santa Clara blog for the date.

More information on grafting can be found at:

• Grafting and Budding on the UC Home Orchard website
• Grafting Dormant Deciduous Fruit Scions at the California Rare Fruit Growers website
• Budding and Grafting Demystified presentation slides from the 2011 California Master Gardener Conference website

If you have fruit trees that are ready to pick and more fruit than your family can use, please contact Village Harvest. Village Harvest is a non-profit volunteer organization in the greater San Francisco Bay Area that harvests fruit from backyards and small orchards, then passes it along to local food agencies to feed the hungry. They also provide education on fruit tree care, harvesting, and food preservation.

Botrytis is gray or brownish fuzzy mold that can attack a wide variety of plants. It likes flower petals, ripening fruits and vegetables, as well as leaves and stems. The spores are spread through the air. It is most severe when there's high humidity and may start forming on decaying matter. According to the UC Pest Note on Botrytis Blight, it is important to remove debris and prunings from the ground. You may even have to pick up flowers daily. Avoid overhead watering.

UC also has information about Gray Mold on Strawberries.

Pick kiwis in late fall while is still hard like an avocado, softening at room temperature. Watch the vine for signs of ripeness. A few fruit will turn soft or the skin color goes from greenish to full brown. Fruit can be left on the vine after leaves have fallen. You can store in the refrigerator for up to 4 months or at room temperature for about 2 weeks. More details about Kiwifruit Culture is provided by the California Rare Fruit Growers.

Valencia Oranges (top) with grafted Kishu Mandarin (below)

More information: Harvesting and storing citrus

The UC Davis Postharvest Technology website was designed for commercial growers, but the information on how to tell When Fruits and Vegetables are Mature is handy for home gardeners as well. There's also information about how to Store Fruits and Vegetables for Better Taste.

For more information: Help Your Trees Survive the Drought

Blossom End Rot on a Bearss Lime

More Information: Growing Citrus Fruits

By this time the vines have spread out and there are flowers everywhere. A foliar spray of a water-soluble fertilizer will give them a boost now. Keep the water flowing as they are one of the thirstiest plants you can grow. You can set young melons on the top of inverted cans (coffee cans, tuna cans, etc.) to warm them faster and more evenly. Punch a hole in the bottom of the can so water won't puddle and rot the melon. Melons will begin ripening in August. How will you know when it's ripe? The background color behind the netting will turn from green to tan. The stem will slip right off with just a light touch. Last but not least. let your nose tell you if it's ripe. Smell the stem end; it should have a wonderful melon aroma. The color and smell test also works well in the grocery store.

More information: Mulching with Organic Materials

Harvest olives grown for the table when fruit is still green. Olives grown for oil can be harvested when the fruit is yellow to reddish-purple and the flesh is still green-yellow. Continue irrigating until first rains. Apply fixed copper to prevent peacock spot before the first major rain, and be sure to wash the fruit before use or wait until after harvest to spray.

After deciduous fruit trees have dropped their leaves, paint tree trunks with white latex paint diluted 1:1 with water to prevent sunburn. Preventing sunburn helps trees resist invasion by shot hole borers, which are tiny beetles that boreholes and lay eggs in the cambium layer of the tree. When the eggs hatch, young larvae feed and excavate tunnel galleries in the wood. For more information about identification and control see UC Pest Note on Shothole Borer.

More information: Pear Leaf Curl

Persimmons - Fuyu

More information: Persimmons

Pomegranate at our Martial Cottle Park demonstration orchard

More information: Pomegranates, California Rare Fruit Growers

Berries including blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and some strawberries can be planted in the fall through early spring. When purchasing blackberries and raspberries, it is best to get plants that are certified disease-free from a nursery. Most berries prefer deep, well-drained, loamy soil with a slightly acidic pH (5.5-6.5). Bare-root plants can be planted in the fall, winter and early spring. Potted green plants can be planted any time they are available in the nursery. A northern sun exposure is best.

Interested in how to preserve fruits and vegetables? UC Food Safety has lots of information including "Safe Handling of Fruits and Vegetables", "Safe Methods of Canning Vegetables", "Chart on Storing Fresh Fruits and Vegetables", and more. Visit their web page UC Home Preservation and Storage Publications for more details.

This is nesting season for many birds, so be sure to check for active nests before pruning trees. Birds are good for natural pest control, as they eat many insects, and they improve your garden’s biodiversity. You can also encourage birds in your yard by providing food and water for them. Just be sure the water stays fresh and clean.

To protect fruit and nut trees from marauding birds, PVC structures covered with netting can save your crop. If netting is placed directly on the tree, birds will still be able to reach much of the fruit. There's more information in the UC Pest Note on Birds on Tree Fruits and Vines.

If you don't eat your fruit the minute before it's ripe, birds or squirrels will. Once you see signs of damage, either pick the fruit, or find a way to protect it. For example using netting or paper bags. Pick up any fallen fruit as so not to attract rats or other less visible pathogens.

Once your apple tree loses its leaves, it's time to think about pruning. Apple trees produce fruit terminally on spurs located on wood 2 yrs. to 8 yrs. old. Weak and unproductive branches should be thinned out to allow the sunlight into the tree for good spur development. Older spurs can be rejuvenated by cutting back, especially following a light crop year. Tree height is maintained by cutting back upper branches to shorter laterals. Excessive pruning of a bearing tree can negatively affect its vigor and fruit. Consult our Fruit Tree Pruning page for more information.

Little or no pruning is required during the first year after planting. Blackberries should be pruned as soon as the harvest is completed. All wood that has produced the current crop should be removed. The canes should be trellised immediately after pruning. Put up only the larger canes and prune the small ones. Generally, no more than 9 canes should be put up on the trellis. A fan-like arrangement is the best way to trellis the vines. Tipping (removing the end of the canes) forces out the laterals on which fruits will be borne the following season. Consult our Berries page for more information.

Rats show up when your citrus, tomato, or fruit first starts to ripen. Rats are agile climbers and usually live and nest in shrubs, trees, and dense ground cover like ivy. One management strategy is to prevent access to the tree by cutting branches away from fences or other trees, leaving a gap of at least 2–3 feet, good sanitation is required. Garbage and garden debris should be eliminated. Use tight-fitting lids on garbage cans. Thin out dense vegetation to make the habitat less desirable. Mow ivy once a year to the ground. Climbing ivies on fences or buildings should be removed.

Per the UC pest note (linked below), trapping is the safest and easiest method for controlling rats. Read the pest note for other management strategies as well.

More information: Rat Management

More information: Nematodes Pest Note

For more information: Pest Note on Tree Squirrels and Pest Note on Ground Squirrels.

Plant hybridization is the crossbreeding of different plant varieties. It can happen naturally but more often comes from deliberate work. A goal of hybridization is creating a new plant with the most desirable traits of its parents, such as the sweetness of a peach and the tartness of a plum. There are many different types of stone fruit hybrids. Here are some examples:

• Pluot and aprium: hybrids of a plum and an apricot, named for which fruit dominates.
• Plumcot: a 50–50 hybrid of a plum and an apricot.
• Peacotum: a hybrid of peach, apricot, and plum.
• Nectaplum: a hybrid of a nectarine and a plum.
• Cherum: a hybrid of a cherry and a plum.
• Peacherine and pectarine: hybrids of a peach and a nectarine.
• Nectarcot: a hybrid of a nectarine and an apricot.

Fruits and vegetables can get sunburned in the summer heat. This is more commonly called sunscald and it frequently affects peppers, tomatoes, and persimmons. The leaves shield the produce from the sun, so it helps to make sure the plants have sufficient fertilizer and water for a healthy plant. You can cut out the damaged parts and eat the rest of the fruit.

USDA divides the US into hardiness zones based on average high and low temperatures. Most of Santa Clara County is in zones 9b and 10a.

Sunset makes many finer distinctions, taking into consideration rainfall patterns, ocean influence, and more. In the Sunset system, Santa Clara County is largely zones 15 or 16 with some zone 7 for areas with more extreme highs and lows. Sunset zone maps: Central and South County and North County.

For gardening success, choose plants known to thrive in your zone.

More information: Video: Getting Fruit Trees off to a Good Start (88 min)