Of the 100,000 acres of prunes in California, approximately 95% are the French variety (Prunus domestica). This variety matures over a short period of time and must be harvested and dehydrated before quality and yield are reduced. This concentrated harvest season places an overload on harvesting and dehydrating equipment to process the fruit at optimum quality, especially in heavy crop years. One possibility for lengthening this harvest season is to advance fruit maturity in a portion of the orchard.