Sacramento Valley Orchard Source

Almond growers have been a-buzz on the topic of bee hours. The concept of a bee hour was designed as a proxy for the amount of good bee foraging weather that occurred during almond bloom. Does low bee hour accumulation mean our 2019 crop is sunk?

How are we doing on chill so far this year? Because there is not a CIMIS station close to Yuba City, Janine Hasey calculates chill based on a temperature recorder at the UCCE office in Yuba City. Chill data will be updated weekly.

Depending upon weather conditions, pathogen population and walnut variety, walnut blight caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas arboricola pv. juglandis (Xaj) can cause significant crop loss. Blight damage in later leafing varieties largely depends on how high the overwintering population of inoculum built up on bud scales. Initial inoculum in dormant buds can be used to predict subsequent disease severity.

Almond bloom diseases require specific conditions for infection – susceptible tissue, moisture, conducive temperatures – and these are often all present during bloom. Appropriate material choice, application timings and coverage are critical to minimize losses. Keep reading for susceptibility and treatment information for the primary spring diseases in almond production.

Allan Fulton, UCCE Irrigation and Water Resources Advisor, Tehama, Colusa, Glenn & Shasta Counties; Luke Milliron, UCCE Orchards Advisor, Butte, Tehama & Glenn Counties

The dormant winter season is a time when evapotranspiration (ET) is low and it is an opportunity to refill the soil profile in your orchards prior to the ...