IN YOUR ORCHARD
TIME TO CONSIDER
It is hard to think about post-harvest activities when harvest started so late this year. Many growers will still be in the thick of it all when this article is published, but we should always be looking toward the future. The start of a successful year begins when the last almond leaves the field. Let’s discuss a few topics and tasks that should be looked at as we move into the post season. Planning is vital to having a successful year. Now is the time to sit down and plan out your 2024 calendar. A good idea is to set up a meeting with your Pest Control Adviser (PCA) and Certified Crop Control Adviser (CCA) where you can debrief on the past year and go over tissue, soil and hull samples to see where you may have some deficiencies. Discuss what worked and what didn’t, where you could improve, and what your goals are for the new year. In this meeting you can also work on a fertilizer and pesticide budget. A budget will help plan out spray and fertilizer applications, what products you might use, and the cost of those applications. Having this road map will lead to less confusion and a more focused approach to farming for 2024. Water is the most important task post-harvest. After harvesting it is vital to return to watering at the full rate of Evapotranspiration (ET). ET is the amount of water being used by the crop in a given time period. Reduced water in the post-harvest may result in reduced bloom and crop the following year. The latter half of summer and fall is when the trees are going through bud differentiation, which means the trees are deciding how many buds will become fruiting or will stay vegetative. If the tree does not have enough energy stored or is not strong enough to support fruiting buds, the result will be more vegetative growth, which leads to lower crop the following year. As we all know, water availability is different for each grower — but if you have it, use it!
Sulfate of Potash (SOP) Misapplication. Photo by Ben Goudie
What about nutrient demand ? The times when growers used to apply 75-100 units of Nitrogen (N) post-harvest are gone. According to the CDFA Fertilization Guidelines, only 20% of your yearly nitrogen should be applied in the post-harvest timing. In some cases, the post-harvest application may be reduced, or even eliminated. If July tissue samples show nitrogen concentration of higher than 2.5% or 2.8%, the extra nitrogen may not be needed. If your crop came in heavier or your nitrogen levels were low in the July samples, a nitrogen application would be a good idea to provide energy for next year’s bloom. Potassium (K) is also vital for next season’s bloom. Checking the K levels in the soil and tissue can help decide the best materials to be used. In some soils K levels may be high, but that parent material may not be available to the tree. This would be a situation where a soil-applied granular would come into play. Remember, K does not have much leaching potential, except in sandy soils, so you want to place the material in a concentrated strip about 3-4 feet from the tree. In micro irrigation situations, you can use a diverted broadcast method to spread the material through the irrigation wetting zone for more contact with feeder roots. Drip irrigation makes things a little difficult when trying to soil apply K material in the irrigation wetting zone, so fertigation during the season will be needed to
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ALMOND FACTS
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