Almond Facts, May-June 2021

IN YOUR ORCHARD TIME TO CONSIDER Summer temperatures are here and hull split is not that far off. Growing and protecting the crop are top priorities with harvest preparation and planning also important considerations. Heavy wildfire smoke is a wild card potentially impacting almond orchard management from now through leaf drop. Heavy smoke can significantly reduce light energy reaching the orchard. Depending on smoke timings, reduced solar energy reaching the orchard could increase slow nut drying and increase ant damage as the nuts sit longer in the field to dry. Heavy smoke cover can also reduce orchard water use. Last summer at Nickels Soil Lab in Arbuckle, daily ETo was reduced roughly 20% for much of late August and into September due to fire smoke. Careful attention to orchard water status and ant monitoring/management may be especially important this year and are discussed in this column. (Securing an extra supply of N95 masks will be important, too, if heavy smoke conditions occur this summer.) Crop Development Growers are paid for delivering good meat (AKA kernel) pounds. The total number of nuts and kernel dry weight per nut determines total weight of good meats. The number of nuts per acre is set by now, but most kernel weight ATV spreading bait. Photo credit: Franz Niederholzer 4 6 A L M O N D F A C T S