After a season last year in which bad bloom conditions hampered apricot production, Washington growers are hopeful this year will be much better.Volume was considerably down last year due to bad spring weather, according to Roger Pepperl, marketing director for Stemilt Growers in Wenatchee, Washington.
"We had bad pollination and not a good bloom," said Pepperl. "We just had a horrible set to where it was nearly a crop failure." But this season has been a huge improvement, and Pepperl estimates production will be at least three times as large as last season's.
In addition to improved production, the season has been moving more quickly. It's estimated that harvesting is about week ahead of last year. Stemilt began harvesting in mid-June and expects to continue through the next three weeks.
Stemilt expects to harvest and pack around 250,000 cartons of apricots this year, and Pepperl notes that sizing has been exceptionally good. With good quality and much better volumes, he is optimistic about the remainder of the season.
"The apricots have great color and blush to them," he noted. "We have a ways to go, but it looks like we'll probably have a near full crop."