HMC News – October 2024
With the tree fruit season winding down, now is when we focus on replenishing the soil for the season to come. Earlier this year, when flowers and leaves were present, tissue and soil samples were taken from the orchards and vineyards. This gave us a snapshot of the plant nutrient status. Samples were studied so that each block could receive a custom blend of fertilizer to keep it healthy and performing at its peak. Now that harvest is almost complete, we continue to replenish the soil with compost. Compost enriches the soil with carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, while also improving soil pH and the biological properties. These post-harvest fertilizers will allow the trees to take in and store nutrients that give them a kick start when they begin to bloom in the Spring.
We are in the process of preparing blocks to be planted for the 2025 tree fruit season. Over the summer we choose certain acres to push or pull out of the ground once harvest is complete. The trees are then left in piles to dry out before being chipped. The decision to push the trees is based on age, productiveness, and fruit quality. Trees, in general, need to be replaced every 14 – 17 years, and more often than not we replace old varieties with new varieties. We do this because many of the new varieties show promising improvements in flavor or fruit quality.
As most people know, our winter weather can be highly unpredictable. California can have years of consecutive drought, or as shown by the past two winters, consecutive years of heavy precipitation. During a lean water year, State and Federal regulations have resulted in less surface water deliveries to our ranches, requiring us to pump more from our groundwater aquifer. But in a winter where water is in excess and the volume can’t be held back behind the California reservoir systems until summer, we
are able to receive the excess snowmelt on our farms. This on-farm recharge is accomplished by flooding fields and filling our ponding basins, thus percolating water down and refilling our aquifers.
The HMC Women’s group met after work for a fun, fall themed team building event. Because our HMC family is spread throughout farms, offices, cold storages, and packing houses; these team building events are a great opportunity to meet up in person, get to know each other even better and in some cases put familiar names with faces for the first time. Everyone enjoyed themselves and we’re already looking forward to the next event.
Recently our head vineyard manager and his family attended the Whole Vine Festival at Fresno State and gave a demonstration on ag technology in the vineyard. The Whole Vine Festival is a weekend-long event that celebrates the culture and flavor of the San Joaquin Valley’s grape, raisin, and wine industry. HMC participated in the kids’ zone, showcasing fun grape science experiments and sampling our Grape Escape ready-to-eat grapes. You can learn more about our grape education materials at GrapesforSchools.com
