In today’s Almond Matters, brought to you by Valent, the bloom period in almonds may be coming a bit earlier than average this year. Field Market Development Specialist with Valent USA, Todd Burkdoll said the fields he has seen give the impression that bloom is just a few weeks away. “Usually it’s around [February] 10th to 15th for bloom, but I think it will probably be somewhere around the 7th or 8th it will start. I mean I saw stuff that’s starting to swell when I was driving around Friday,” Burkdoll noted.
The likely driver of a potentially early bloom period is the amount of chill that trees received back in December. Burkdoll said he initially thought that bloom might be a bit delayed. However, the progression of the trees and the swelling that has been seen suggests an earlier timeline.
“Then I put two and two together and said, ‘well we got enough chilling.’ The chilling is what turns it on, turns it off and that’s what’s going to happen. I think it’s going to be a little bit earlier bloom,” Burkdoll explained. “It will probably come all at once too because usually when you get enough chilling, things are ready to come to life. The alarm goes off and everybody wakes up.”
In anticipation of the bloom period, growers will be paying close attention to weather forecasts in the coming weeks. California has seen multiple series of storms come through over the last month, bringing heavy rainfall with them. The state continues to need additional precipitation, but growers are hoping the skies remain clear for almond bloom.
“Hopefully we won’t get any rain during bloom, that’s just problematic for everybody,” Burkdoll noted. “Rain right now is good. During bloom, it can impede pollination. After bloom, it can contribute to wet conditions and disease.”
Listen to the report below.