The maturity of the crop is two to three weeks behind normal. Harvest may not begin until late August or early September in the San Joaquin Valley. Production of table grapes this year is expected to be 750 thousand tons, down 9 percent from last year. Raisin grape production this year, forecast at 2.30 million tons, is down 20 percent from last year. Harvest is slowly underway with approximately 10 percent of the crop picked.
Some scab is reported, but overall quality is good.
Other pears are expected to yield 30.0 thousand tons, unchanged from 1997. Regular afternoon rains and thunderstorms occurred in virtually all citrus producing counties of this state. Surface soil moisture is generally getting back to adequate condition after the early summer drought and record high temperatures of this past May and June. Some caretakers are still periodically running their irrigation equipment to maintain optimum growing conditions. An abundance of new growth has occurred on all trees that have been receiving good grove care.