events | California Rare Fruit Growers

The Monterey Bay chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers extends many thanks to breeder Ellen Thompson and field manager Juan of Pacific Berry Breeding in Watsonville, CA, for leading yesterday’s exhaustive and elucidating tour of their caneberry breeding facility. Pacific Berry Breeding, one of only a handful of caneberry breeding operations spread across the globe, works with material from public breeding institutions and germplasm repositories, and under contract with major commercial berry producers, to develop novel varieties of blackberry and raspberry for the fresh market.

Ellen demonstrated for us the traditional breeding methods employed here, showing her technique for making controlled crosses via manual pollination. She discussed how seedling varieties are evaluated for quality and commercial viability, and how seedlings are chosen to advance from season to season as “selections”, and then as “advanced selections” suitable for larger field trials. Fewer than 2% of of an initial cohort of seedlings will make it as far as propagation for extensive trials.

Caneberry breeder Ellen Thompson demonstrates some of the techniques of hand pollination for controlled crosses.

One parent will have its anthers and pollen extracted from a flower, to be applied to a flower of another plant that has been carefully emasculated with a razor knife.

Continue reading “Blackberry and Raspberry Tour at Pacific Berry Breeding”

Following our fascinating extended tour of Pacific Berry Breeding, a dozen of us with the afternoon free reconvened at chapter secretary Ken Konviser’s Bobcat Ridge homestead avocado farm for a tasty potluck lunch and tour of his gardens.

Jujubes, autumn olives, and muscadines brought by CRFG members to sample at the potluck

At Ken’s hillside farm with a broad view overlooking the valleys of Corralitos and out to the bay, and beyond his tidy rows of terraced vegetables and healthy small orchard of numerous avocado varieties for market, we also enjoyed examining some of the more exotic specimens that he’s planted.

Developing fruits of ‘Palo d’Oro’ avocado. This locally introduced variety from Big Sur is a seedling of Pinkerton.

Continue reading “A Visit to Ken’s Bobcat Ridge Avocado Farm”