Some tasks to complete to prepare for bloom

Installing some water sensors today, I noticed that some of the Fritz were approaching pink bud. In the particular orchard, both the Fritz and Sonora look like they were ahead of the Nonpareil. Many of the Sonora's had a few blossoms either open or in popcorn. Seeing this, it is a good possibility that we may have an earlier than normal bloom - especially if the warm temperatures and sun continues. This year has provided good, early chilling in December, and enough rain to fill most soil profiles within Merced County. Both of these conditions can push bloom.

The best advice is not to jump the gun, but to keep an eye on your orchard as you work to complete complete any needed tasks.

Some tasks that should be on your list include:
1. Ensuring that frost protection strategies are in place. This includes mowing the vegetation to a few inches, starting the irrigation pumps to make sure they are working, and fixing any broken irrigation lines/emitters. Making sure that everything is working before the frost event will ensure you that it will work during the frost event (besides, who wants to troubleshoot a pump when it is 3 AM and 28 degrees outside?).
2. With rain in the forecast, it might be a good idea to make an application of a pre-emergent herbicide. This is covered in a previous article.
3. Finish shaking and flail mow any mummies on the ground to reduce Navel Orange Worm Pressure.
4. Gophers are quite active during this period and are building mounds. Traps and/or aluminum phosphide will provide control. Roger Baldwin (UCCE Specialist) suggests that combing both trapping and aluminum phosphide will increase the effectiveness of gopher control as it affects gophers that become "trap-shy." More can be found here. His article is on the third page of the newsletter.
5. Select fungicides for bloom and post-bloom sprays. Remember to rotate the fungicide's mode of action to reduce the formation of resistance. More on fungicide selection and spray timing can be found here. Click the tables to enlarge.
6. Pray for good weather during bloom!

Bloom sprays: What and when to use to provide effective disease control.

Written by Brent Holtz, UCCE San Joaquin

Almond trees are susceptible to bloom and foliar diseases when it rains at bloom, and the decision of when to spray and what fungicides to use can be quite difficult. In the San Joaquin Valley we are usually in a low precipitation region and we cannot predict when and how much it is going to rain. We often receive rain during bloom which can result in favorable conditions for several plant pathogenic fungi to cause spring time diseases of almonds. The main diseases in almonds are Brown Rot Blossom Blight, Green Fruit Rot or Jacket Rot, and Shothole. Other less familiar diseases include Scab, Rust, Leaf Blight and Anthracnose. The fungi that cause these diseases are usually always present in almond orchards, sometimes in higher or lower amounts depending on the previous year’s disease levels and current environmental conditions.

Fungicide Control Programs
Generally, a good disease control program is based upon a wise choice of fungicides and good timing and coverage. Growers should assess the diseases present in their orchards and select materials carefully. Not all fungicides are equally effective on all diseases (fig. 1). It is a good idea to use more than one kind of fungicide for a broader spectrum of activity. This will be especially important with using Strobilurin fungicides (Abound, Cabrio, Flint, Sovran, and Pristine). Pristine is a Strobilurin fungicide that is combined with Carboxyanilide to slow resistance development. Resistance to these fungicides can develop over time and repeated use, thus try to rotate the fungicides you use. Two successive applications of the same mode of action should be avoided. Information on effective fungicide rotations can be found in figure 2.

A suggested bloom spray strategy:
Usually two sprays are made for brown rot control. The first is usually done at 5-20 % bloom using a systemic fungicide. The second spray, using a different material, should be done at about 80% to full bloom or two weeks after the first spray. This is the most effective brown rot spray (fig. 3). Depending on the weather, a third spray may be necessary if rains persist and two weeks of protection have gone by. Since we cannot predict the weather at bloom time, we must at least take some

Application techniques are also important. Usually ground application is better than air; but care must be taken that both are applied correctly. In general, use properly calibrated and directed nozzles and maintain a slow speed.

Figure 1: Efficacy of fungicides for use on almond foliar and bloom diseases.


Figure 2: Suggested FRAC group rotations for the various modes of action of fungicides.

Figure 3: Treatment timings of major foliar diseases of almonds.

More information on the timing of fungicide applications for orchard tree and vine crops can be found here, at the UC IPM website.

Recent storm damage help from Farm Service Agency

A notice from Laura Westerfeld - Farm Services Agency in Merced County:

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) offers several different programs to
help producers affected by weather events recover losses. Many of these programs, however, require the producer to be participating in all Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Programs (NAP) and Risk Management Programs (Federal Crop Insurance).

Producers, please contact your local FSA office to report any crop or orchard damage caused by the recent storms. You will be asked to complete a report of acreage and fill out a Notice of Loss. We will share this information with the Agriculture Commissioners Office so that they may request a disaster declaration if warranted.

The Tree Assistance Program (TAP): TAP is for trees that are producing an edible crop - not nursery operations. Producers who lose or must rehabilitate trees damaged by disaster conditions (excessive wind) can be reimbursed 70 percent of the cost of replanting the trees and 50 percent of the cost to remove the damaged trees and limbs from their orchard. To be eligible the producer must have had a total loss greater than 15 percent over normal mortality. The State Office will set normal mortality, but my guess it will be one or two percent. Another requirement is that you must have all of their crops of economic significance covered by either the 50/55 level of crop insurance or NAP. This excludes socially disadvantaged, or a beginning or limited resource farmer.

If you had a problem, please call your local FSA office to set up an appointment. Before you go, 1)set up your farm records (proof of ownership/leases on all land they have an interest in) 2)do a report of acreage, and 3)submit a notice of loss. Due to the fact that FSA does not have any real procedure on how they will take these applications, please take pictures and document the cost associated with removing the damaged plant and replanting of a new tree.

Northern San Joaquin Valley Almond Day

I just wanted to send a quick "Thank You" to all of you who attended the Northern San Joaquin Valley Almond Day meeting today. Roger and I were pleased with the attendance, speakers, and quality of questions and post-talk discussions. With out your attendance, these meetings would not be a success! We had over 260 attendees!

I was very impressed with Roger Duncan's (UCCE Stanislaus) report on his trials with various growth supplements. Spending three years to work through some of these products to determine their value in almond production must have been quite tedious. Scott Johnson (UC Pomology Specialist) did an excellent job presenting his work on zinc applications for trees planted on nemaguard rootstocks. I covered this topic in a previous article.

Frank Zalom's (UC Davis, Entomologist) work regarding the area-wide USDA NOW project and how softer chemistries can be used for May Spray control of PTB and NOW was Interesting. I am sure it will be covered in a future blog.

Bruce Lampinen's (UC Davis, Specialist) work on determining excessive soil moisture is taking one step closer to answering the lower limb dieback problem. Last but not least, Blake Sandon (UCCE Kern) covered the basics of irrigation scheduling.

I will eventually post my talk regarding peach-almond hybrid's and their tolerance to salt. Until then, the slide shows should be available within a few days at Stanislaus County Extension Webpage.

Enjoy!

Early bud break of almonds

A farm call last week in the Livingston area brought up some nice discussion regarding early bud break of trees. All of the growers varieties had buds that appeared to be "pushing." Most notable were trees within the Sonora variety. As seen in figures 1 -3, varied bud stages were present, including green tip through the popcorn stage (For more information, please see the article The Seasonal Patterns of Almond Production). Seeing this, the grower was having concerns about the possibility of an early bloom.
Figure 1: Almond buds beginning to break showing "green tips."

Figure 2: Early bud break of a Sonora tree with the blossom in the "Popcorn" stage.

I doubt that we will have an exceptionally early bloom. Conversations with long time growers and consultants have indicated that this "pre-bloom bloom" can occur with early varieties. It has also been observed that tree buds will swell quickly, appear that they are going to bloom, only to remain dormant for several more weeks. I would guess that we are still looking at a mid to late February bloom. Remember to south San Joaquin Valley growers: you guys are always a week or so ahead of central San Joaquin valley.

Please let me know if you are all seeing/thinking something different.

Since we are on the topic of bloom, lets consider a few things that affect bloom timing.
Chill hours: Required chill hours have been accumulated. Across the valley, the minimal hours observed have been around 700 - almonds need 500-600. Broadly, chill hours are the tree's self protecting mechanism that requires it to be exposed to enough hours of cold weather (<45 degree F) in order to prevent it from blooming at the wrong time. If these hours are not met, poor bloom, deformed leaves, and lack of growth will occur. Since the required hours are lower than many other tree crops, very rarely does this occur. Once chill hours are met, the break of almond dormancy is often delayed by soil and air temperatures, as well as the photoperiod.

As growers, we can not directly change the temperatures and amount of sunlight/darkness in which trees are exposed. We can, however, use some farming practices to change the "micro-climate" of the orchard. It has been observed that blocks that have been sprayed with dormant oil or calcium nitrate tend to push a few days earlier than untreated blocks. Shooting from the hip, I would guess that dormant oil increases the boundary layer temperature of the tree, making it "feel" warmer than actual ambient air temperature. So, if chill hours have been accumulated, and the nights are short enough, the tree would bloom since it is now warm enough.

Even though calcium nitrate gives a similar affect on bloom timing, I would suspect that it works in a different way. Even though I am not 100% sure, I would guess that calcium nitrate increases the amount of solutes within the tree's cells, triggering cell expansion through changing the osmotic potential, and thus triggering the tree to bloom by causing the required hormone imbalance. It is possible that dormant oil may do something similar, but I dont know (and I cant find a resource quick enough to answer my own questions)- so please let me know if it does.

Another way we can change the "micro-climate" is by increasing soil temperature. Often, orchards that are irrigated in the dormant season to refill the soil profile often bloom earlier than those that have a unfilled soil profile. This affect is most likely due to the slight warming affect that moisture brings to the soil. Typically we expect winter rains to refill our soil profile, but this does not always happen - the 2007/8 and 2008/9 winters are good examples. In years where we are short on rain, a pre-irrigation can help push the trees to bloom.

I hope this provides some insight for the upcoming season.

Almond Price Update from Hilltop Ranch

Almond Update

Posted on January 12th, 2010

Today the Almond Board of California reported:
December 2009 shipments were 147.4 million lbs. - a new record
- 57.5% above December 2008 shipments of 93.6 million
- Domestic shipments were up 22% and exports were up 72%

The market has continued very firm with prices rising throughout the past month.

SHIPMENTS/DEMAND:

This is a remarkable shipment figure for December and brings shipments for the season to 719 million vs. 603 last season, up 19%. Shipments to China have already exceeded 100 million lbs., up over 100%. As this is a price sensitive market, and now the largest export market for almonds, there is a lot of interest to see how Chinese consumption looks in a 3-4 months, once Chinese consumers begin to feel the impact of current prices in California and we have seen how their Chinese New Year holiday sales went.

THE 2009 CROP:

Crop receipts as of December 31 were 1.327 billion lbs. We now anticipate that the total crop receipts will surpass the 1.35 billion lb. estimate and perhaps even reach the neighborhood of 1.375 to 1.4 billion lbs.

OUTLOOK:

Prices have increased .50 to 1.00/lb. since the beginning of the season depending on the variety and size. Pricing for small Cals is up .70/lb. just since October. As we have not yet seen the impact of the drastic price increase on consumption, it’s very difficult to access the long-term outlook. The outlook for the next month looks very bullish. With the strong shipments and buying interest seen lately, sellers are now hoping for an excellent bloom and large 2010 crop to help continue to feed demand.

Courtesy of Paul Ewing, Hilltop Ranch.

New pesticides are effective on Peach Twig borer in early sprays

Author: Franz Niederholzer, UC Farm Advisor Sutter-Yuba Counties

Peach twig borers (PTB) are a key pest of almonds. Nuts damaged by PTB are preferred feeding sites of navel orangeworm (NOW). At a recent almond IPM meeting in the San Joaquin Valley, a leading independent PCA told the audience that a good NOW program included PTB control. Talk with your PCA and review reject sheets and moth traps to decide if PTB control is needed in your orchard.

Dormant, delayed dormant, or bloom sprays, with the proper pesticide, give effective PTB control when applied properly (every-row spraying and proper sprayer speed). Other effective timings include a spring or summer spray(s) timed using moth trapping data and degree days.

Recently registered pesticides give excellent PTB control in research by Dr. Frank Zalom, UC Davis Entomology Department, in the Sutter/Yuba region (see table below). These materials are less toxic to operators and wild life, especially those that live in water. Consider these new materials as part of a PTB control program in your orchards. Organo-phosphate pesticides (Lorsban, diazinon, etc.) and pyrethroids (Asana, Warrior, Brigade, Baythroid, Mustang, etc.) are very effective on PTB, but can harm fish and other life in local streams if the pesticide moves to the water in drift or water runoff from rain or irrigation. Including a new pesticide in your PTB program in dormant to bloom also helps avoid pest resistance to organo-phosphates and/or pyrethroids.