IN YOUR ORCHARD
TIME TO CONSIDER
2023 was a year many almond growers would like to forget. Navel Orangeworm, also known as NOW in the industry, was by and large the main reason for pain and discomfort for growers last year. So of course, I am going to write an article that is going to make growers relive this terrible reject year. Why would I want to do that, you might ask ? In hopes that you can avoid it again this year! In this article I am going to dive into the level of damage experienced in 2023, what may have caused it, and what can be done in 2024 to prevent it. Finally, we’ll examine how much money can be lost due to this severe level of damage. Saying that the 2023 damage from NOW was extensive would be an understatement! For the 2023 crop, 55% of Nonpareil deliveries were graded at the S1 level (standard grade not receiving quality meat or inshell premiums). Those deliveries had an average reject percentage of just over 5%. Keep in mind that the level to achieve quality on meat deliveries is 2% or lower. Did the pollinizer varieties fare any better ? Aldrich had 55% of deliveries graded as S1 with an average reject percentage of 4.9%, and Monterey had 60% of deliveries graded at the S1 level with an average reject percentage of 4.7%. I know that’s a lot of numbers thrown at you, but to boil it all down, 2023 was one of the worst reject years on record. This is even worse than the last difficult year in 2017 which we refer to as the “The Wreck.” What caused the “Great Rejection” of 2023 ? As with many things, there were several factors that influenced the outcome. The first being a lack of winter sanitation. Heavy rainstorms and difficult market economics led to a reduction of winter shaking and mummy nut destruction. The lack of winter sanitation led to a large emergence of overwintering NOW, whose population increased as the year continued. This population was also increased by a high number of abandoned or poorly maintained orchards. Growers also experienced a prolonged bloom, which in turn, caused a prolonged hull split. Many growers commented on the variability they experienced during hull split, and how they had green nuts with little to no split, while also having
nuts that had been ready to shake for some time. This variability made it difficult to time Hull Split applications and left many orchards vulnerable without protection against NOW. Lastly, market economics played a role in the high reject numbers. Low pricing plus the high cost of inputs has forced many growers to cut or be very selective on what they can or cannot do in their orchards. All these scenarios combined into a perfect storm that led NOW to thrive throughout the 2023 crop year. What can you do in 2024 to prevent repeating 2023 ? Hopefully, as a grower, you decided that winter shaking is a must, and you completed your winter sanitation during the dormant period. This also includes thoroughly mowing and destroying mummies after shaking. It is impossible to spray your way out of a situation later in the spring when mummy nuts are left in the tree. Mating disruption may be a good option to help reduce NOW damage. Though not new, this technique may be new to many almond growers throughout the state. Mating disruption uses pheromones that confuse the NOW moths and prevents mating. Typically, pheromones work well on large rectangular blocks. If you have a smaller operation, you may want to ask your neighbor if they are interested in mating disruption and then you can combine your orchards into a larger block. Mating
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ALMOND FACTS
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