sept-oct-2020

IN YOUR ORCHARD TIME TO CONSIDER Late fall is generally a slower time in almond orchards as harvest winds down and days grow shorter, but there is both reviewing and planning to do as the focus shifts to next year. Planning Ahead Planning for the 2021 crop will be more challenging than usual. Experienced growers tell me that surviving the tough years is what is most important to their long-term success. This means careful planning decisions going forward. The following is general planning advice reviewed by the new UC Extension Ag Econ Specialist at UC Davis, Dr. Brittney Goodrich. • Don’t use only cash to fund the 2021 season. Get production credit to allow you to cover basics so the trees meet potential that year and beyond. • Successful almond growers are profit maximizers, not cost minimizers. That said consider a budgeting approach for 2021 that ensures that all planned expenses for the year are based on the expected value to the grower. • Growers should spend carefully, but not sacrifice orchard health to maintain long-term viability of their orchards. Irrigation is Critical Irrigation is the always critical “right now” task to stay up on. There is no more critical time of the year for careful irrigation than postharvest to leaf drop. Excessive irrigation is not needed or helpful, but avoid long stretches of moderate to high moisture stress (more negative than -14 bars in pressure chamber readout) that can shut down photosynthesis for longer times in the day and possibly result in early leaf loss and reduced energy (starch) storage. Fall is also a good time to maintain your irrigation systems while water is still being applied and is available from water districts. Don’t start next season with an irrigation system that isn’t ready. Check your system’s irrigation water distribution uniformity (DU) as well as cleaning/flushing the entire system. A potential major impact on irrigation next year is the winter climate forecast with a La Niña advisory being issued by the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center. This usually means less than normal rainfall in California. While a La Niña forecast is not a guarantee of low rainfall this winter, it is certainly cause for concern for growers looking to a wet winter to fill reservoirs and leach root zone salts. Including water purchases in one 2021 budget scenario may be realistic. 3 4 A L M O N D F A C T S