IN YOUR ORCHARD
TIME TO CONSIDER
“If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm.” After what felt like nonstop rain throughout the winter and during the duration of bloom, I thought this quote by Frank Lane was perfect to sum up the current farm year. Wind, clouds, and rain have finally taken a back seat and growers can get back to what they are best at…farming!
can be found at the UC Davis Fruit & Nut Research website (fruitsandnuts.ucanr.edu), which will give you an estimated hull split timing. All you must do is enter the date of peak bloom in your orchard and select the weather station for your area. It is also important to know this model will only work once we are 90 days post bloom. That is because it uses those 90 days to record temperatures to
Now that the sun is out, the first thing that usually comes to mind is “When do I start irrigating ? ” Or, after the wet spring you may be thinking, “Who needs to irrigate ? ” The amount of rain we received this spring may have caused a false sense of security when it comes to soil moisture. The temperatures are rising rapidly and can reduce deep soil moisture. Growers do not want to get behind on moisture because they may never be able to catch back up. With the probability of good water supplies, growers will want to be sure to maintain maximum vigor in their trees for optimal fruit wood development for next year’s crop. The use of soil moisture probes or the tried-and-true soil auger will help give you, as a grower, an idea of where your current soil moisture stands.
Figure 2 Emerging NOW by Trent Voss
predict an estimated date. If you have a possible date, you can now ground-truth it by spending time in the orchard. Navel orangeworm cannot get into the nut until it splits, so spraying should not occur until then. As a grower you know the cost of this application is high, and it is something you do not want to waste because you sprayed before the almonds were even vulnerable. As always, hull split will begin on the edges and tops of trees. When considering material, remember most hull split materials require the insect to ingest the material for control. That means the material needs to be on the suture of the almond before the eggs hatch. Pyrethroids must come into contact with the actual pest and will affect adult moths but can cause secondary pest issues like mites. As always, confer with your PCA about what materials and timing work for your orchard.
Figure 1 by Trent Voss
As the temperatures rise, so do the number of insects, and that is always a point of concern when it comes to Hull Split . The first question to ask is, “When is hull split ? ” Hull split varies from year to year, so growers cannot rely on when they sprayed last year. There is a great tool that
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ALMOND FACTS
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