The “Almond Matters” segment, brought to you by Valent USA Corporation, is back for another season. Some areas of the state saw a small amount of rain last week. Valent’s Pat Clay said as most producers know, weed management starts now. “As a reminder, because everyone knows quite well, weeds are going to sap resources. They compete for water, nutrients, and space,” he said. “So going into the winter, especially when filling the soil profile with those winter rains, managing the weeds is important.”
Although areas didn’t see a lot of precipitation, Clay said it was probably enough to start growth and growers need to act fast if they haven’t already. “It was probably enough to get some of those winter annuals germinating and starting to emerge,” he said. “The likely scenario would be that (growers) would want to come in as quickly as possible with a residual herbicide and potentially mix in a burn-down type product.”
This is the base for a strong, season-long, weed management plan. Clay said playing catch-up later in the season is costly. “Getting them before they emerge and starting clean is definitely the key, especially with a lot of the resistance problems that are developing. Relying on post-emergent materials is getting more and more difficult.”
Listen to the full segment.
10-25-17 Almond Matters