Growing the Valley

Ganoderma adspersum is a wood rot fungus that isn’t behaving quite like other wood rot fungi. It’s bringing down trees at much younger ages than typical wood rot fungi do. Bob Johnson, Ph.D. candidate, shares what he’s learned about this fungus. We're conducting a survey to evaluate the pod as a teaching tool. Participation is optional, results are confidential and you can stop taking it at any time. We would like to use this to improve the pod, so please consider participating! ucanr.edu/podcastsurvey Thank you to the Almond Board of California, the California Pistachio Research Board, the California Prune Board, and the California Walnut Board. Music is by Muriel Gordon.

While the research isn’t quite ready for prime time, David Haviland and other UCANR IPM advisors are looking into using yellow sticky cards to monitor thrips populations. Thrips are an extremely effective spider mite predator and if populations are high enough, you probably don’t need to spray. For more on spider mite management, check out episode 40. We're conducting a survey to evaluate the pod as a teaching tool. Participation is optional, results are confidential and you can stop taking it at any time. We would like to use this to improve the pod, so please consider participating! ucanr.edu/podcastsurvey Thank you to the Almond Board of California, the California Pistachio Research Board, the California Prune Board, and the California Walnut Board. Music is by Muriel Gordon.

Today’s episode is focused on almonds, but have some validity for all tree crops. Nitrogen management in California is not quite as advanced as in other areas of the Midwest since we manage nutrition based on an entire irrigation block. Patrick discusses how this may change in the future, as well as the basics of predicting yield when actual yield is unknown. We're conducting a survey to evaluate the pod as a teaching tool. Participation is optional, results are confidential and you can stop taking it at any time. We would like to use this to improve the pod, so please consider participating! ucanr.edu/podcastsurvey Thank you to the Almond Board of California, the California Pistachio Research Board, the California Prune Board, and the California Walnut Board. Music is by Muriel Gordon.

Luke and Phoebe are challenged to list the major orchard tasks in a minute for walnut and prune, and almond and pistachio, respectively!

In the fourth episode of our nitrogen in tree crops miniseries David Doll discuss his research on fertilizing young almond orchards.

Phoebe spoke with Kris back in December on ant control in almonds. The good news is that it’s very easy and effective, but you need to stay on top of it. Mention of a trade name is not an endorsement or recommendation, and always check the label before applying. Find out more about this pest at: https://www2.ipm.ucanr.edu/agriculture/almond/Ants/ We're conducting a survey to evaluate the pod as a teaching tool.  Participation is optional, results are confidential and you can stop taking it at any time.  We would like to use this to improve the pod, so please consider participating! https://ucdavis.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8BOQCy5cvb7UyOx Thank you to the Almond Board of California, the California Pistachio Research Board, the California Prune Board, and the California Walnut Board for their support. Music is by Muriel Gordon.

SWD is a serious insect pest of soft-skinned fruit, especially cherries. Jhalendra Rijal has been researching this pest and has some control tips for California cherry growers. Mention of a trade name is not an endorsement or recommendation, and always check the label before applying. We're conducting a survey to evaluate the pod as a teaching tool.  Participation is optional, results are confidential and you can stop taking it at any time.  We would like to use this to improve the pod, so please consider participating! https://ucdavis.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8BOQCy5cvb7UyOx Thank you to the Almond Board of California, the California Pistachio Research Board, the California Prune Board, and the California Walnut Board for their support. Music is by Muriel Gordon.

Phoebe and Luke discuss walnut, prune, almond and pistachio tasks for May, as well as reports of leafing failure issues in almond, pistachio, and walnut.

In the third episode of our nitrogen in tree crops miniseries, I sit down over Zoom with Sebastian Saa with the Almond Board of California, to talk about his research in early leaf sampling of almonds, as well as several other tree crops.

In the second episode of our nitrogen in tree crops miniseries, I sit down over Zoom with Franz Niederholzer (UCCE Colusa) to talk about nitrogen management in almond production.

In the first episode of our nitrogen in tree crops miniseries, I sit down over Zoom with Phoebe Gordon to talk about the 4 R’s of nitrogen management.

I got the chance a few weeks ago to chat with Fred Hoffman of the KSTE Farm Hour about not tying too closely when staking walnut trees. Our conversation is based on an article I wrote with Janine Hasey and Bruce Lampinen.

We hope everyone is safe and healthy during these trying times. We cover April’s tasks in this episode. Phoebe was having a hard time with a new recording method that involved delayed playback through headphones, so her one-minute challenge part was slightly edited for clarity. Thank you to the Almond Board of California, the California Pistachio Research Board, the California Prune Board, and the California Walnut Board for their support. Music by Muriel Gordon.

Luke goes over walnut blight management in walnuts, which can be a significant issue in the Sacramento Valley. Listen to find out more about treatment timing, strategies, and resistance management. Mention of a trade name is not an endorsement or recommendation. You can find out more at: http://www.sacvalleyorchards.com/walnuts/diseases/walnut-blight-management/ https://www2.ipm.ucanr.edu/agriculture/walnut/Walnut-Blight/ Thank you to the Almond Board of California, the California Pistachio Research Board, the California Prune Board, and the California Walnut Board. Music by Muriel Gordon.

Lu Zhang provides an update on work published last year on the effect of dust on pistachio pollen, flowers, nut set, and blanking (it’s not good!). Please note that there are other physiological causes of blanking, such as incomplete pollination or aborted kernel development, and that we have not determined how much dust could contribute to blanking in the field. Also, the episode was recorded before the heavy rains in March in the southern San Joaquin Valley, so high dust conditions may not occur this year. The American Society for Horticultural Science dropped its paywall, so you can read the article yourself at https://journals.ashs.org/hortsci/view/journals/hortsci/54/11/article-p1967.xml. Thank you to the Almond Board of California, the California Pistachio Research Board, the California Prune Board, and the California Walnut Board for their support. Music is by Muriel Gordon.