September Walnut Orchard Management Considerations
Read this article for walnut orchard management tasks to keep in mind in September. Continue reading
Author Archives: Dani Lightle
Can trunk paint mitigate herbicide damage in young almond trees?
In order to assess the efficacy of white latex paint in mitigating herbicide damage, a field experiment was conducted in Arbuckle, CA to evaluate the impacts of latex paint on herbicide injury in young almond trees. Preliminary results indicate that in most treatment combinations, old and new paint as trunk protection methods did not reduce tree stress caused by trunk-applied herbicides. Continue reading
Weekly Irrigation Scheduling Tracker (per tree)
This tracker compares maximum hours of irrigation that may be needed during a week to actual hours applied. This tracker is limited to weekly use. It is not capable of tracking total irrigation for the season. Enter your orchard specific … Continue reading
Weekly Irrigation Scheduling Tracker (per acre)
This tracker compares maximum hours of irrigation that may be needed during a week to actual hours applied. This tracker is limited to weekly use. It is not capable of tracking total irrigation for the season. Enter your orchard specific … Continue reading
Should You Use Ethephon in a Lean Price Year?
Sure, you can harvest your walnuts this fall without application of any ethephon. Forgoing the ethephon application would save you material and spray costs. However, despite the costs of application, use of ethephon may wind up saving you money in … Continue reading
Bee Hours and Almond Pollination
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? Continue reading
Prune Thinning Calculator
Thinning should occur roughly around the same time as ‘reference date’, or the point at which 80-90% of the fruit have a visible endosperm. The endosperm, a clear gel-like glob, will be found in the seed on the blossom end … Continue reading
Almond Bloom Diseases
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. Continue reading
Cover Crops in Almonds: Research Updates
Dani Lightle, UCCE Orchards Advisor, Glenn, Butte & Tehama Cos.; Cynthia Creze, PhD Student, UC Davis; & Amélie Gaudin, Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis Almond growers have indicated interest in the use of cover crops, but grower surveys indicate … Continue reading
Monterey and the Leafing Failure – 2018
This spring, I received many calls regarding the failure of vegetative buds to push, particularly in the Monterey variety. Affected trees are characterized by an entire scaffold that failed to leaf out, even though trees bloomed as usual and, in … Continue reading
Ant Mounds
Can you identify an ant by its mound? Of course, it’s better to base IDs off of the ant specimen itself, but for the more entomophobic among you, ant mound ID may sound like a fantastic alternative. Continue reading
Previous Northern Sacramento Valley ET Reports – March 2018
Irrigation Evapotranspiration (ET) Report for Tehama, Butte and Colusa county CIMIS stations. Continue reading
Thinning Prunes
Will you need to thin prunes this year? In order to keep fruit from falling through the sizer, you need to do some legwork and estimate your fruit set. If needed, thinning should occur roughly around the same time as … Continue reading
How Will the Freeze Impact Olive Bloom?
All eyes have been on almonds during the recent cold snap, but the recent weather has reminded Bill Krueger, Farm Advisor Emeritus in Glenn County, of a similar cold snap in 2006 and the resulting damage to olive bloom. Here I have republished an article Bill wrote of his 2006 olive bloom observations. Continue reading
Missing the Target: Why you Should Irrigate Potted Trees Directly onto Potting Media
Generally, when I am working with growers on a problem related to potted-tree establishment, the cause is lack of water movement into the potted media, creating tree stress. This results from the difference in soil particle size at the boundary between the orchard soil and the tree’s potting soil. Continue reading