Your source for orchard news & information in the Sacramento Valley
Ganoderma butt rot has been responsible for almond trees falling over all throughout the Central Valley. In order to better focus our management efforts, researchers must conduct a spore survey that will help us determine the times and locations that are at greatest risk of infection and spread by spores. Continue reading
A team of weed scientists from UC Davis, Oregon State University, and Cornell are asking berry, tree fruit, tree nut, and vine crop growers to take 5 to 10 minutes and answer this short and anonymous survey (link below) about your current weed management practices and your interest in novel technologies, like vision-guided sprayers and cultivators, and electric, steam, and pressurized water weeders. This will help us plan research and extension projects that will address stakeholder concerns regarding the future of weed management. Continue reading
The UC Davis Prune breeding program is eager to promote three promising new cultivars that have excited growers. The new cultivars offer a range of superior flavors, harvest dates, pruning strategies and dry away ratios. 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
Here’s your chance to influence the direction of walnut rootstock development! Tell UC and Fresno State your preferences in rootstock attributes and how much you’d value those enhanced characteristics.
Take this anonymous survey. It should take less than 10 minutes to complete. Continue reading
Beginning in late June, several PCAs and growers reported trees in almond orchards in the Sacramento Valley with symptoms like those of almond leaf scorch (ALS), a disease caused by the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa. UC farm advisors and UC and USDA plant pathologists have begun a survey to confirm disease presence and improve understanding of the disease in the Sacramento Valley. Continue reading
Navel orangeworm (NOW) is the key pest of almonds, causing more income loss due to reject nuts than any other pest. Pesticide sprays, alone, cannot control this pest. A combination of several specific practices has been proven to reduce NOW damage and limit loss of grower income. The first of these practices on the orchard calendar is sanitation. Continue reading
Cytospora canker can severely limit prune production; reducing grower income and potentially lead to early orchard removal due to scaffold and/or tree loss. This bark disease is not new to prune orchards in California, but in recent years there has been a dramatic increase in this disease in some orchards. All prune growers and PCAs should know its symptoms and management strategies. Continue reading
Fall and winter orchard management considerations range from irrigation and plant nutrition to weed, pest and disease management. Continue reading
The University of California’s Walnut Improvement Program has been hard at work for decades breeding varieties with characteristic that are desirable to both growers and consumers. The following table compares many industry standards with more recent releases. Continue reading
UC is hiring a Staff Research Associate to support the UC Cooperative Extension Orchards research and extension programs in the southern Sacramento Valley. If you know any hard-working folks looking to work in agricultural research and extension, please pass along this opportunity. Continue reading
The sudden November 2018 freeze event that caused extensive damage in many walnut orchards is a stark reminder that we must do our best to prepare against extreme events. Continue reading
When prices are lean walnut farming is tough business. Farm advisors are not economists or financial advisors. However, farm advisors can be useful in providing best practices for economically sustainable production. Two key economic decisions growers face are when to replant individual trees and when to remove and replant entire orchards. Continue reading
This tutorial consists of a single video. In it, we revisit briefly why we offer the weekly crop ET reports. It has been our experience that once growers and crop consultants become familiar with how to apply the weekly crop … Continue reading