In today’s Almond Matters, brought to you by Valent, growers thinking about applying a plant growth regulator this year should be making their plans now as almond bloom is quickly approaching. Extending bloom in almond trees can maximize the potential for pollination and help growers increase overall nut set.
“Couple of things you need to be thinking about as far as planning to use a plant growth regulator during bloom,” said Pat Clay, Manager of Field Development for Valent USA. “The timing of application is incredibly important, so being prepared and having a game plan going into the situation are all things you want to be thinking about.”
The coming weeks will be critical in terms of weather conditions and how they will impact the approaching bloom period for almonds. With fairly mild temperatures forecasted for much of California, bloom may be coming quickly and growers will want to optimize their opportunities for pollinating as many flowers as possible in their orchards.
“Really and truly the only plant growth regulator available for application during almond bloom is ReTain,” said Clay. “That is the goal of using ReTain during bloom is to increase the potential for nut set and if you don’t have good nut set you’re not going to have great yields so you want to do everything you can during bloom to encourage good nut set.”
Making the necessary preparations now for making an application to extend bloom will ensure that growers are prepared to get into the orchard when the time is right. As Clay noted, bloom time is just on the horizon. “Buds are definitely starting to push and swell which is kind of that first stage of the almond trees coming out of dormancy. So, things are progressing, and the speed of progression will really be dependent on what temperatures we have over the coming two to three weeks.”
Listen to the segment below.