Photos from the Field: Howard Nut Drop

During about the second or third week in June, many Howard walnut trees experienced nut drop of perhaps as many as 100 nuts per tree, with many trees losing no more than 60 nuts per tree. These nuts were full size with the shell beginning to harden. Cutting open an immediately dropped nut, you could see darkening of the inside watery kernel material. Several possible causes are explored in this article.

Cover Crop Seed Selection

There are plenty of benefits that can come from cover cropping in an almond orchard, including improved orchard access, improved water infiltration, encouraging native pollinizers and improved honeybee health. But all the options of species to plant can be overwhelming. Herein we’ll review how to pick a cover crop seed blend for a particular orchard.

Photos from the Field: Walnut Autumn Freeze Event and Spring Regrowth Update

A sudden autumn freeze event last November is the likely cause of widespread dieback observed in both young and mature orchards in the Sacramento and northern San Joaquin Valleys this spring. Following reports in April of walnut orchards not leafing out, our initial diagnosis was freeze damage. We advisors, specialists, and faculty agree that this initial diagnosis has been further supported after examining additional orchards and weather station sites.