West Coast Nut September 2019

Figure 2. Flowering branch of Kester showing
dense flower and spur production. All photos
courtesy of Tom Gradziel.
Kester, A Productive Late Bloom
Almond Variety from University
of California Davis
By TOM GRADZIEL | Department of Plant Sciences University of California, Davis, CQA
THE VARIETY KESTER WAS
developed as a pollenizer for
Nonpareil that combines good
kernel quality and productivity with
a later flowering time for reducing
vulnerability to flower diseases and
frost damage. Kester’s high productivity
and later flowering time also make it
a promising alternative to the variety
Padre in Padre/Butte plantings. Kernels
are similar to Nonpareil in shape and
size, though the seedcoat tends to be
darker and slightly rougher. The seed
parent of Kester was Tardy-Nonpareil,
a bud-sport mutation of Nonpareil that
retains Nonpareil’s good kernel qualities
and disease resistance but flowers 10
days after Nonpareil. The Kester tree
is vigorous and upright to spreading,
being similar to slightly smaller than
Nonpareil in final tree size. Production
occurs on a combination of spurs and
terminal shoots. This growth habit supports
high productivity with an open
tree architecture that allows greater light
penetration and air circulation to the
canopy interior, thus reducing vulnerability
to blossom, foliar and nut diseases.
Kester Evaluation
Kester was developed at the
University of California Almond
Breeding Program at Davis, California
with long-term support from the
Almond Board of California. The
program was developed to breed new
varieties and germplasm to meet the
emerging needs of the expanding
California industry. This includes the
long-term, regional testing required to
identify potentially serious problems
in new variety releases before largescale
grower plantings. Towards this
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West Coast Nut September 2019