"Earlier this year, Merced County almond handler and grower Dave Long took a
photo of the first almond tree he saw in bloom and e-mailed it to a friend.

That was Feb. 14. Thirty days later he took another picture of that same
tree. It was still blooming.

“That’s the longest bloom I’ve seen in 30 years in the business,” says Long.
“The temperatures never got too warm or too cool. As a result, flowers
stayed viable much longer than usual.”

The extended pollination and fertilization period goes a long way in
explaining the record 1.75-billion-pound crop forecast by the California
NASS office."

http://westernfarmpress.com/extended-bloom-heavy-set-point-record-almond-crop


I've seen years when some varieties only bloom for a few days, rather than
the full month recorded this year.  This extended bloom, due to the cool
spring weather, also made for strong colonies returning from almonds this
season.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
ScientificBeekeeping.com

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