Nurseries Continued from Page 1
not enough material out there. There’s shortages everywhere,” he said. His nursery has plants in progress, but VanKlaverensaidheneedsamonthor two of warmweather to encourage growthbe- fore they’re ready formarket. “We’re getting requests fromcustomers for various things, like fruit trees or pe- rennials or anything that we have on the ground,” he said. “It’s not ready to sell, but they just want it. They need something to stock up their retail garden centers with.” Dwarf fruit trees for the backyard, in- cluding peaches, pluots and plumcots, remainhot sellers, he said. Nurseryoperatorspredictedsome trees will be scarce formuch of 2021. “You can’t find citrus and avocado for retail market right now,” Klittich said, not- ing it will bemonths before that changes. “For citrus, it’ll take a year,” he said. “It takes that long to get production back up andgoingandget thingshappening, espe- cially in the larger sizes.” Thedemandsurgehasnurseryproducers hopeful the trendwill stick inthe long term. “Hopefully,we’ll gainsome lifetimegar- deners andplant enthusiasts fromall this,” Ratajczak said. “I thinka lot of peoplehave seen the benefits of gardening help them through this pandemic.” The pandemic has also led to newmar- kets formuchof her nursery’s production, she added. “With hotels and theme parks and golf courses that have been shut down, our
flowers are still sellingat the rate theywere when we had the demand coming from other sectors,” she said. “For many homeowners and rent- ers, their buying habits have definitely changed,” Ratajczak said. “There’s been an increase in not only herbs and veggies, but for color as well.” Van Klaveren also noted an increase in sales to customers who then sell to landscapers, and said he foresees more of the same. “We were wondering where, with the shutdown and people being furloughed
coming, probably the next nine months,” Klittich said. “Next spring, we’renot going tokeep thegainswe’vehad.We’regoing to drop down some. But I’m optimistic that it’ll keepgoing. I’mgoing toplan for equal or better sales next year.” Inventory isn’t the only thing nurseries are low on: For Ratajczak, boosting pro- duction meant a need for more people, and theywere hard to find. “We’vehadtohiremoreemployees, and it seems like many of the other growers and landscape businesses are in the same boat,” she said. “Within the horticulture
went ahead and sold it. Now this year, things are even shorter.” Alyssa Ratajczak of Premier Color Nursery in Fallbrook said her spring sea- son kicked off early, with “herbs and veg- gies still super, super popular.” “We’ve increasedour productiondue to everything last year, which has definitely been a good decision for us,” she said. Ratajczak named ranunculus as one of this year’smost popular flowers. “In the past, we’ve seen them trending down, but this year we’re just getting into the ranunculus season and sold out very quickly,” she said. Ratajczak said her nursery also has new vegetablecropscomingoneveryfewweeks, “andwe’re just selling through them.” “We’ve adjusted as needed to what we’ve seen going onwith the pandemic— people’s lifestyle changes, people’s buy- ing habits and just communicating with our customers, what they need andwhen theyneed it,” she said. “We’vebeenable to adapt and adjust to those growing needs.” DavidVanKlaverenofHollandiaNursery inModesto saidhe’s alsoplaying catch-up after hotter-than-expected sales in2020. “April was looking kind of bleak andwe were worried, but after April, we took off and went crazy,” he said, noting that he also sold some of what was intended to be this year’s crop last year, tomeet demand. “That leads us to this year, where there’s
“I think a lot of people have seen the benefits of gardening help them through this pandemic.” —Alyssa Ratajczak, Premier Color Nursery, Fallbrook
industry, jobs are in high demand.” As for the nursery business as a whole, Ratajczak said she thinks the pandemic has changed it, for the better. “I think this whole situation has spe- cifically pressured essential businesses, business owners, employees, to really learnhow to adapt quickly todifferent cir- cumstances,” she said. “Decisionmaking, quick thinking—everyone’s skillshavehad to really sharpen during this time.” (Kevin Hecteman i s an ass i stant editor of Ag Alert. He may be contacted at khecteman@cfbf.com.)
or out of their jobs, where thatmoneywas going to come from to spend, but it was there, somehow,” he said. “Landscape is the first thing that you walk up to see,” he said, and with “the home sales market going crazy, it’s defi- nitely aworthwhile investment.” Klittich said he thinks people’s interest in gardeningmight taper off a bit, asmore people are vaccinated and the country slowly reopens. Even so, he said he’s op- timistic many people have found a new hobby they’ll stickwith. “I can see us (having) a little bit of dip
CALIFORNIA IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM CIMIS REPORT | www.cimis.water.ca.gov
For the week March 4 - March 10, 2021 ETO (INCHES/WEEK)
YEAR
3.0
THIS YEAR
2.5
LAST YEAR AVERAGE YEAR
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
MACDOEL II (236)
BIGGS (244)
DAVIS (06)
MANTECA (70)
FRESNO (80)
SALINAS-SOUTH (214)
FIVE POINTS (2)
SHAFTER (5)
TEMECULA (62)
IMPERIAL (87)
THIS YEAR LAST YEAR AVG. YEAR % FROM AVG.
.76 .64 .53 43
.71 .78 .58 21
.88 .84 .82 9
.90 .92 .76 18
.75 .66 .68 10
.72 .78 .68 7
.79 .78 .72 12
.81 .70 .72 14
.64 .69 .83 -22
1.36 .18 1.18 14
W eekly reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is the rate of water use (evapotranspiration—the sum of soil evaporation and crop transpiration) for healthy pasture grass. Multiplying ETo by the appropriate “crop coefficient” gives estimates of the ET for other crops. For example, assume ETo on June 15 is 0.267 inches and the crop coefficient for corn on that day is 1.1. Multiplying ETo by the coefficient (0.26 inches x 1.1) results in a corn ET of 0.29 inches. This
information is useful in determining the amount and timing of irriga- tion water. Contact Richard Snyder, UC Davis, for information on coefficients, 530-752-4628. The 10 graphs provide weekly ETo rates for selected areas for average year, last year and this year. The ETo information is provided by the California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS) of the California Department of Water Resources.
For information contact the DWR district office or DWR state headquarters:
SACRAMENTO HEADQUARTERS: 916-651-9679 • 916-651-7218
NORTHERN REGION: Red Bluff 530-529-7301
NORTH CENTRAL REGION: West Sacramento 916-376-9630
SOUTH CENTRAL REGION:
SOUTHERN REGION:
Fresno 559-230-3334
Glendale 818-500-1645 x247 or x243
16 Ag Alert March 17, 2021
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