Friday 12 Feb 2016

The recent warm weather, low 70's, has been ideal for the rapid development of bloom. These pictures were taken 3 days apart at the same orchard.

Generally, the foothill orchards are 2 or 3 days ahead of the flat land orchards.

Monday 15 Feb 2016

15 Feb 2016

Fog early this morning gave way to a sunny and warm day. It was a very good day for bee activity.

 9 Feb, 2016

We spent the day exploring the World Ag Expo in Tulare today. There is a lot to see and take in. I was hoping to find help with some water quality issues we are facing, and I made several good contacts.

The range of exhibitors ranged from very traditional and "low tech" to very new "high tech" approaches to farming. I think these two pictures of vendors illustrate the point.

The falcons are used for pest bird control.  Drones, both fixed wing and quad "copters" are used primarily for imaging.

3 Feb 2016

8 Feb 2016

Here are two picture showing the progression of bud development over the most recent 5 days. These are Nonpareil variety, the first to bloom in most of our orchards.

Feb 3, 2016

Bee Colonies are being placed in the orchards. The annual migration of hundreds of thousands of colonies of bees from all across the nation to the largest pollination event in the world has begun.

Beautiful Sierra

El Capitan from 30,000 ft. Snow cover is the best in years. Thanks be to God! And more on the way. 

Between rain storms.

No one is complaining about the regular rainfall we have received so far this winter. (But we will complain if it rains during bloom which is coming up soon!) That's human nature.

I guess I've been at this a while. I supervised the planting of this orchard in 1991. A typical almond orchards productive life span is between 20 and 25 years.

WINTER SANITATION IN THE ORCHARD

Mummies turn black from mold on the hulls but worms love the interiors

Mummies (nuts not removed at harvest) are the overwintering site for Navel Orangeworm, a primary pest of almonds. I think of mummies as Navel Orangeworm "hotels" where the worms live in comfort waiting to infect the new crop next year.

Winter shaking

Removal of the mummies by shaker, or by hand poling, is the most effective and important control for Navel Orangeworms. This cultural control is used by all serious growers as part of an integrated pest control program and allows us to reduce the need for expensive chemical sprays.

When I see a goat in the back of a pickup truck I am encouraged that there is still some "rural" left in Modesto (but I do remember when the intersection ahead was a one-direction stop sign).

I am seeing a lot of Band Canker (Botryosphaeria spp.). Not many years ago it was uncommon. Now it seems I can find it in any young orchard. The moisture held by tree protectors (cartons) may contribute to the ability of the fungus to invade. We removed the cartons in this orchard but the gum caused by the canker made it difficult to remove the carton from this tree.  You can see the white remnants of the carton that stuck to the gum balls. I have always been an advocate of removing the cartons as soon as possible because they shelter scale insects and overwintering Peach Twig Borer.

My work gives me access to some beautiful properties. The hill on the left is Picnic Hill. We went there recently to fly drones. Here is a link to a short (1.5 minute) video taken by a quad-copter as it followed the fixed wing drone. Very cool video and a beautiful day in the country!  Chasing the Bixler