In today’s Almond Matters, brought to you by Valent, producers are busy in the orchard working to keep their trees as healthy as possible as almond harvest approaches. There are several areas of focus that growers will be monitoring for and making the necessary preparations over the next couple of weeks to ensure a successful harvest.
“Well you’ve got a couple different factors that can play into keeping the trees healthy,” said Todd Burkdoll, Field Market Development Specialist for Valent USA. “Navel orangeworm, hull rot, and then the ants are the top things that I would target.”
Navel orangeworm has been a growing problem over the last few years. As harvest time begins to approach growers will want to be paying close attention to their traps and take the necessary action depending on the level of activity in the orchard. “Those treatments should be going out right now to take out that pest before you get into full flown hull split because once the eggs are laid and the worm gets in the nut it’s almost impossible to stop the worm from damaging nuts,” Burkdoll noted.
Another concern for growers as harvest split begins to occur in some areas of California is the incidence of hull rot. Growers should be aware that some varieties are naturally more susceptible to being affected by hull rot. Burkdoll notes that there are some materials available that can help lower the risk of infection at hull split. “At the very onset of hull split put a shot of Quash on there and it will definitely retard/reduce the amount of hull rot that you get at harvest,” said Burkdoll.
As almond harvest approaches, producers will also want to consider ground conditions and any potential ant concerns. Burkdoll noted that growers will want to give themselves enough time to put ant baits out in the orchard to allow for maximum efficacy. “It’s not too late at this point to get some on the ground before you start shaking because those ants will gravitate to those nuts and cause all kinds of problems,” Burkdoll explained.
Listen to the report below.