Integrated Pest Management for Almonds

  • Monitoring-based program to reduce pesticides and water quality issues
  • Involvement in orchard by the grower is a must
  • 5 different periods of growth:
    – Dormant Season
    – Bloom to Post-bloom
    – Fruit Development
    – Harvest
    – Postharvest

Integrated Pest Management for Almonds

  • Post-harvest: Harvest to onset of dormancy
  • Dormancy- Period of time from leaf fall until leaf out in the spring
    – December 1st until buds begin to grow, around February 1st, or so.
  • Delayed Dormancy – Period of time of resumption of growth, indicated by bud swell until green tip.

Post Harvest & Dormant season IPM

  • Disease management
  • Insect pest management
  • Vertebrate pests
  • Weed management

Fall monitoring: Almond Rust

  • Rust appears as small, yellow spots on the upper surface of leaves.
  • On the lower surface, spots are rusty red
  • Rust-colored spores erupt through the surface.

 

 

 

 

Rust Management in Fall

As per UCIPM: Apply zinc sulfate (20-40lb/acre) in late October to early November to hasten leaf fall. Otherwise, the inoculum may build up, overwinter on the trees, and infect leaves the following spring.

Fall monitoring: Shot Hole

  • Monitor orchards in fall for shot hole lesions and fruiting structures.
  • Appear after rain, seen with hand lens.
  • If fruiting structures are present, Apply zinc sulfate (20-40lb/acre) in late October to early November to hasten leaf fall.

 

 

 

 

 

Fall monitoring: Armillaria Root Rot
(Oak Root Fungus)

  • Mushrooms at the base of trunk after rain events in fall
  • White mycelial mats at or below ground
  • Fumigation?
  • Cultural Management

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dormant Spur Sampling of Almonds
Sampling is used to determine the need for a dormant treatment

  • Sampling is done once between mid- November and January
  • Extensive and time consuming
  • May reduce operating cost
  • Removes dormant application of Organophosphates

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dormant Spur Sampling of Almonds

  • Insect Pest
    – Mite Eggs (Brown, European Red)
    – San Jose Scale
    – European Fruit Lecanium
  • Insect Predators
    – Parasitized scale
    – Parasitized EFL

 

 

 

How to sample

  • 35 to 50 trees from each orchard
  • Selecting major scaffolds randomly, clip 2 to 3 spurs or twigs from inside the canopy (~total 100)
  • Clip the spur off at the base, making sure to include some old spur wood along with last year’s growth
  • Using a hand lens, examine 20 of the spurs for scales, mite eggs, and scab lesions, at a time.

Dormant Spur Sampling of Almonds

Pest Threshold Treatment
San Jose Scale Below 20%

20%–60%

Over 60%

 No Spray

Oil at 6–8 gals/acre Oil with insect growth regulator
European Fruit Lecanium Below 20%

20% and above

 No spray Oil only
Overwintering Mite Eggs (European red or brown mite) Below 20%

20% and above

 No spray Oil only
Scab Below 10%

10% and above

 No spray Copper/oil or chlorothalonil/oil

Dormant Spur Sampling of Almonds

Almond Scab
Scab lesions on twigs serve as overwintering sites for the fungus

Mummy nut removal

  • Mummy monitoring and nut removal
    • Examine 20 trees per block.
    • If an average of 2 or more mummies per tree are found before February 1, remove mummies by shaking or hand poling the entire block.
    • Destroy mummies on the ground by either disking or mowing by March 15.

Pistachios Orchard sanitation

  • Sanitation also reduces inoculum for
    • Botryosphaeria panicle & shoot blight
    • Botrytis blossom & shoot blight
    • Overwintering leaffooted bug

  • Botryosphaeria panicle & shoot blight
  • Severe winter pruning
  • Burn the prunings outside the orchard
  • Infected wood spreads disease via rain splashes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Symptoms Of Spring

Killing buds for next year’s crop

Monitoring for diseases

  • BUDMON test
    • Dormant Bud Sampling
    • February to Mid-March
    • Specially if pressure was high last year
    • Infected parts can spread infection for 6 years

 

 

 

 

Botrytis blossom & shoot blight

  • More severe in male
  • Beige/buff colored powdery spores at the base of shoots
  • Starts from infected buds and bud scales
  • Prune the blighted shoots

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sampling for nematodes

  • Now is a good time to sample soil for nematode analysis
  • Soil should have optimum moisture
  • Make a composite sample from at least 5 locations in the block.
  • Discard top one foot of soil and sample from the second foot depth, within the root zone
  • Make sure you collect roots along with the soil

Vertebrate pests

Pocket gophers

  • Mound building activity peaks in fall & spring
  • Crescent shaped mounds at burrow opening

 

 

 

 

Vole Damage:

  • Physical damage to tree and roots at or slightly above/below soil line
  • They like grass/vegetation