In today’s Almond Matters, brought to you by Valent USA Corporation, hull rot is something growers usually manage during the upcoming summer months. Almond growers could see more of an issue with hull rot this year aided by a wet winter and spring. “Hull rot is typically a disease that is managed in the summer months, and it’s really a complex,” Field Market Research Manager Pat Clay said. “There’s two fungi that are causing the disease, monilinia and rhizopus. A lot of the university research has demonstrated that you need to manage it as a complex and the application timings are different depending on which organism you generally have.”
Growers need to keep an eye out for the disease as we move into summer. Clay said the spring weather and modern practices aid this type of disease. “Generally when you start to see this disease it’s in the drier part of the year,” he said. “But with some of the newer production practices where we have reduced pruning, narrowed the tree spacings and created a more humid microclimate in the orchard, those are factors that can lead to disease as well.”
Listen to Clay’s full interview.
06-07-17 Almond Matters