A pomegranate field day is scheduled for Sept. 10 at Tulare County, Calif., grower Greg Smith’s orchard near Plainview, Calif.

Plainview is west of Strathmore.

Along with an orchard tour of Smith’s Angel Red variety pomegranates, there will be several speakers discussing pomegranate farming, packing and marketing.

Field tours begin at 9 a.m. followed at 10 with speakers:

• Dennis McFarlin, licensed PCA with Gar Tootelian, discussing chemicals registered for pomegranate farming.

• Mark Hendrickson discussing Anti-Stress 550, a frost protection and water conservation product.

• Donald Thomas, Advanced Agricultural Services, discussing organics and IPM in the pomegranate production.

• Terry Denlay, Monrovia Nursery, licensed propagator of Angel Red, discussing soil medium.

• Jim Burnett, Giannini Packing, Angel Red packer in the Central Valley.

• James Abercrombie, Sunriver Sales, Angel Red sales.

• Greg Smith, Angel Red Pomegranate, pruning and shaping

Lunch will be at noon with more field tours in the afternoon.

Angel Red pomegranate is a chance seedling Greg Smith discovered on one of his farms. It ripens about Labor Day, which is 30 days earlier than a popular variety, Wonderful. The other unique attribute of Angel Red is that it is soft seeded. Most pomegranates that are sweet/tart in flavor are hard seeded.

Smith patented it as Smith Pomegranate and then copyrighted the name Angel Red. There are about 1,700 acres planted to Angel Red, mostly in the San Joaquin Valley. Many of the trees are young. The 2010 harvest is expected to yield only about 30,000 boxes.

Monrovia Nursery is licensed to propagate Angel Red.

Call (559) 827-3461 or email [email protected] for more information.