IN YOUR ORCHARD
TIME TO CONSIDER By the time this article comes out, I will be about a month or so away from my five year anniversary as regional manager with Blue Diamond Growers. In those five years I have answered the usual questions. “What’s the price? How’s the market? When’s the next payment?” There is one question, though, that typically is asked only as we get close to harvest and it is “What actually happens to my sample when it goes to the test room?” In this article I’m going to talk about the process of how your product is graded. I can’t forget about the orchard entirely as we’re in a critical stretch of the season, so I’ll start with navel orangeworm management and a few considerations as we get closer to harvest in case we’re dealing with another wet stop-and-go harvest year.
orchards and make sure the material you choose aligns with your strategy. Remember, hull split starts at the top of the trees. So, if you’re watching the nuts that are at eye level, you’ve missed the timing. Watching the tops of the trees for the “blank nuts,” those where the kernel failed to form, can help you get the timing right. Blanks split 10 to 14 days ahead of the good nuts. Unless you’re farming a self-fertile variety, you will also need to think about a second application. In higher pressure areas, or if you’ve historically had elevated damage, you’ll also want to target hull split on the pollinizer varieties. The days of a single hull split treatment in most orchards are largely gone. If you’re making more than one hull split application, chemical selection matters: rotate modes of action to slow resistance development and make sure the pre harvest interval (PHI) fits your anticipated shake timing. Wet weather seemed to somewhat catch growers off guard in 2025. This led to high excess moisture levels and even concealed damage (the internal breakdown of the kernel). We’ve all learned that when we get rain, we also get mud. Sometimes we get rain right when we don’t want it. If you find yourself staring at a forecast that could complicate harvest, here are a few key points: 1. If you’re planning to shake and rain is in the forecast, don’t shake. Shaking ahead of rain is a fast way to create problems down the road, from stuck equipment to slower dry down and higher risk of quality loss.
Almond Windrow by Trent Voss
Navel orangeworm (NOW) is still the primary topic as we head into harvest. By the time you read this, you will be well past the timing window for mummy spray, previously known as the May spray application. This year produced probably the most sporadic application window for the mummy spray application that I have seen. Varying levels in trap accounts along with intermittent storms led to varied spray applications throughout the state. The impact this will have later in the year...We will just have to wait and see. But make sure your hull split application is dialed in. Timing is the most critical factor, so be diligent when checking your
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ALMOND FACTS
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