Your source for orchard news & information in the Sacramento Valley
Prune growers should be aware that the weather conditions this upcoming week favor development of blue prune. Blue prune drop is associated with the rapid increase of orchard temperatures. We’ve had a mild spring with temperatures forecast to be in the low- to mid- 90s this week. Continue reading
Irrigation Evapotranspiration (ET) Report for the Woodland, Davis, Dixon and Verona CIMIS stations. Continue reading
Irrigation Evapotranspiration (ET) Report for Tehama, Butte and Colusa county CIMIS stations. Continue reading
Wet springs often means more yellow, iron (Fe) deficient prune trees than in dry years. Iron deficient prune trees show yellow leaves with green veins and limited vigor. The problem is actually not soil Fe deficiency, but a lack of iron in the right form within trees. Researchers believe Fe deficiency in tree crops is related to soil bicarbonate levels. Continue reading
This is the weekly IPM pest update from Tehama county, with biofixes and trap activity for: codling moth, oriental fruit moth, peach twig borer, navel orangeworm, San Jose scale, and walnut scale. Continue reading
Irrigation Evapotranspiration (ET) Report for the Woodland, Davis, Dixon and Verona CIMIS stations. Continue reading
Irrigation Evapotranspiration (ET) Report for Tehama, Butte and Colusa county CIMIS stations. Continue reading
Potassium, zinc, iron, and manganese nutrient deficiency symptoms are more prevalent where soils are wet, cold, and saturated. Foliar nutrient sprays can provide quick correction of symptoms and improve tree color and vigor if indeed that is the reason trees were performing poorly in the first place. Continue reading
Predicting nut set in any given year is often a bit difficult. A review of the many steps involved in successful nut set may provide a better understanding of just what went wrong (or right) for different varieties across the … Continue reading
This is the weekly IPM pest update from Tehama county, with biofixes and trap activity for: codling moth, oriental fruit moth, peach twig borer, navel orangeworm, San Jose scale, and walnut scale. Continue reading
This is the third in a three part series looking at past experiences of flooded orchards. Here we offer management steps to consider in dealing with orchard flooding in 2017. Continue reading
Irrigation Evapotranspiration (ET) Report for Tehama, Butte and Colusa CIMIS stations. Continue reading
Experiences with the 1986 and 1997 levee breaks in Yuba and Sutter Counties and other “high–water” events over the past thirty years afford us some expectations for the types and extents of tree damage that may result from orchard flooding in 2017. Here we reflect on the floods in 1986 and 1997 and considers ways in which specific conditions associated with those floods seemed to affect orchard outcomes. Continue reading
Experiences with the 1986 and 1997 levee breaks in Yuba and Sutter Counties and other “high–water” events over the past thirty years afford us some expectations for the types and extents of tree damage that may result from orchard flooding in 2017. Part one of this article will first discuss some generalities of flooding damage and two key types of damage that tend to follow prolonged orchard flooding, i.e., waterlogging and Phytophthora diseases. Continue reading
Rainfall favors Botryosphaeria (Bot) and Phomopsis canker and blight of walnut when temperatures are over 50° F, so be alert to disease spread this spring and summer. Bot reduces yields by killing small fruit wood and large branches and directly infecting the nut. The focus of this article is on 2016 Bot research findings. Continue reading