Almond Trees are dormant during the cold winter months around May to July.
Following petal fall the leaves, new shoots and fuzzy greyish-green fruit begin to grow rapidly. This normally occurs from September to December. The hulls which cover the growing nuts continue to mature and harden and toward the end of this period the kernel begins to increase in weight while maturing.
Harvesting of Almonds generally starts mid-late February and continues into April. The Non-Pareil variety is the first to be harvested with our shaker, followed by the Carmel and then Price. The shaker has two arms and clasps the tree trunk and shakes it for several seconds until all the almonds have come off.
The almonds are left to sun dry for a couple of days and are then swept into the middle of the rows. From here a mechanical harvester also known as a pick-up, sweeps the almonds up where they are then carted into our storage facilities.
The almonds are then loaded onto our trucks and taken to the processing plant called Laragon where they undergo the shelling procedure.
The almonds are then brought back in large plastic bins with the variety and size labelled on it. The sorting stage then begins. Product is ready for despatch within one week of harvesting.
Blossom occurs between late July to early September. At the start of blossom in almond orchards, you will often see alternate rows in bloom. This is because almonds are not self fertile, so there are always 2-3 varieties interplanted in an orchard. Bees are used to cross-pollinate the blossom.
Once the fruit has finished growing, the hull begins to split during summer, from early January. Over the next month the split widens and opens further. The almond shell is now visible through the split in the hull, and the nut itself begins to dry. Eventually, the junction between the stem of the whole fruit and the tree weakens and the fruit is ready for harvest.