PARAMOUNT FARMS

13646 Highway 33Lost Hills, CA

(661) 797-6500

Visit us online at www.growerpartner.com or call Andy Anzaldo at 661.797.6740

Winter 2012

Pruning pistachio trees is highly subjective and is more of an art than science. Many growers believe that the more severe the pruning program, the less yield will fluctuate during alternate bearing. Others feel their main benefit of pruning is shaking efficiency. Ultimately though, choosing a pruning program that will produce the most harvestable yields is the overall goal. This approach is done in two stages: Establishing a framework and structure in young trees, and maintaining structure and upward growth in mature trees.

Establishing your three to four primary, upward branches lays the foundation for your overall tree structure. It is ideal for two to three secondary branches should also be growing upward. The same upward and out direction should be followed for all tertiary and quaternary branches.

Where growth is more vigorous in the southern valley or Westside, some growers choose to begin pruning branches in the middle of the trees in order to facilitate light penetration. In addition to pruning, tipping (more specific lateral cut) young trees is usually done every year to ensure vigorous, upward growth. Most agree that pruning and tipping immature trees will establish structure and form that is essential for creating productive, mature trees that are easily harvestable.

Pruning mature trees serves several functions; most importantly, proper pruning allows for an efficient harvest where the majority of nuts are removed from the trees and caught in catch-frames. Long, whippy branches can occur from not pruning. This allows for erratic shaking during harvest and instead of being vibrated off, the branches move in a wave pattern and viable product is often left in the trees or dislodged onto the ground, missing the catch-frames. Without some sort of pruning program that shapes trees upward and maintains the recommended 17’ canopy diameter, mature trees become a burden to harvest and ultimately lose a lot of product on the ground.

Paramount’s pruning practices include mechanical as well as hand pruning to maintain structure and upward growth for an efficient harvest. If certain orchards are low yielding, we may choose to manually tip the trees as well as hand pruning in order to stimulate more fruiting buds for next year. Many growers tip on a yearly basis, regardless of yield because it helps even out alternate bearing and increases yield during “off” years.

Overall, pruning must be done according to needs of the individual orchard; which is why it is important for growers to be involved with their harvest and observe how efficient the trees are shaking. For young trees, monitoring overall structure can save time and money, instead of having to come back after a few years and correcting problems with chainsaws.

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Early Vertebrate Pest Management

Rodents, birds, and rabbits are known to cause havoc in young orchards, and can do severe damage to mature trees and irrigation systems. UC Davis recommends a four-point management program which consists of properly identifying the problem species, manipulating habitat to make it less favorable for the pest, taking early action, and establishing monitoring programs. The four-point approach is the most cost-effective and most efficient means of controlling specific vertebrate pest problems.

Identifying the correct species causing damage is important and ultimately determines the control technique you will use. Identifying ground squirrel and bird problems may be easy since they feed during the day. However, species that forage at dusk or below ground such as meadow voles, jackrabbits, and pocket gophers, can be difficult to identify. For these species, recognizing feeding characteristics and borrowing patterns is necessary.

Once identified, steps should be followed to make the habitat less favorable to the pest.

Meadow voles and jackrabbits prefer areas with high vegetation, so controlling weeds and regularly mowing cover crops will reduce pest populations without the use of chemicals or other expensive methods. Tree guards that extend six inches below the surface will help reduce damage to trunks of young trees.

However, habitat manipulation may be inapplicable or not cost effective; in which case fumigation, trapping, and poison bait is a better option.

At Paramount, we fumigate gopher burrows with aluminum phosphide from January to February when the

ground is moist. For squirrels, we are careful to time fumigation

when they begin to forage, just after they de-construct the thick burrow plugs

created during hibernation in late February to early March. Fumigation should be performed

when the ground is moist to maximize poison gas penetration throughout the burrow system.

One way Paramount takes early action is by trapping. We use two-pronged pincher traps year-round for both gopher and squirrels. Burrows are excavated, and then traps are placed in each direction on the main runway of the burrow. Gophers may push dirt into the trap at an opening if they see light, thus tripping it and rendering it useless. To prevent this, place a board or dark fabric over the hole and exclude any light that may enter the burrow.

For bigger issues in early spring, we strategically place bait stations with chlorophacinone, an anticoagulant poison on grain substrate, to control voles, squirrels, and gophers. Anticoagulants must be ingested by the animal for several days to achieve a lethal dose. In some cases bait-shyness may occur, which happens when the pest ingests sub-lethal doses of the poison, becomes sick, and learns to avoid the bait. If this occurs, and pest activity resumes after a week, acute poisons such as zinc phosphide may be used and only require one dose.

Once populations are under control we continually monitor areas prone to vertebrate issues and treat the problem as it arises. As always, prevention is essential to a cost-effective vertebrate management program, so take proactive steps when you can to avoid costly chemicals and labor intensive pest removal programs. For more information on specific vertebrate pests and management go to http://fruitsandnuts.ucdavis.edu

Identifying the correct species

causing damage is important

and ultimately determines the

control technique you will use.

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For Current Farming Information!

ReportField

Paramount prides itself in continually enhancing the grower partner experience. One way we achieve this is by staying at the forefront of communication and technology. We introduced Tailgate Talk, the newest portion of our website (www.GrowerPartner.com), in December and have received great reviews from our Grower Partners.

Tailgate Talk assists grower partners in staying current with the latest industry practices and orchard tasks, and also allows growers to take a look at our own farming operation and interact with our technical experts.

We encourage you all to take advantage of this valuable resource. Our technical experts will be actively updating the blog with orchard task lists and industry happening’s throughout the growing season; so check in regularly. Since our next newsletter won’t be out until summer, the blog will feature information on bloom sprays and other important spring tasks in the near future. Feel free to utilize all of the blog features including our Classifieds section in the forum!

As always, if you have any questions or would like a site tutorial, call Candice Rogers at (661) 797-6559 anytime. We look forward to hearing your feedback and hope you will let us know if there are features of the website you would like to improve, or topics you would like addressed.

Winter SanitationLeftover pistachio in the trees and on the orchard floor, as well as infected

limbs are potential problems that may affect next year’s crop. Thus, winter sanitation is important for Navel Orangeworm population reduction as well as Botryosphaeria (Bot) control. Paramount’s winter sanitation program includes pruning along with a winter “mummy” shake to remove mummy nuts and infected rachises left in the trees. Nuts on the ground are blown into windrows and disked.

Pruning serves several purposes, but from a sanitation standpoint it eliminates rachises infected with Bot. In areas prone to Bot, flagging problem areas when symptoms arise and monitoring throughout the growing season facilities the removal of infected areas during dormancy once the symptomatic areas are no longer visible (leaves/nuts). In Eastern Kern County, we rely on mechanical and manual pruning crews to inadvertently prune out Bot infected branches as they shape the tree for optimal growth. After pruning we then focus our attention to the ground.

Research has shown that ground sanitation in pistachios is more important than removing nuts from the trees (Joel Siegel 2008). Because of these findings and the cost of labor, we don’t manually remove nuts from the tree. Instead we use shakers to get the majority of the crop out of the tree, and then nuts are blown into the windrow. We prefer disking over mowing the windrows because it’s more cost effective. Disking eliminates the need to re-float areas (level the orchard floor) disrupted from harvest shakers and other machinery during the season. However, both methods are equally as efficient (in pistachios) for NOW reduction.

Sanitation is not about being perfect or eliminating every mummy nut in your orchard. Ultimately it is about doing what is practical and most cost efficient for your operation. If you had high reject levels in CY11, you may

budget more for winter sanitation this year, but if you were satisfied with your numbers from harvest, stick to your current program!

Check Out

Tailgate Talk

Pistachio mummy nuts

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OilingThis is a record year for chill with most pistachio

growing regions exceeding 800 hours by early January. Pistachios need a minimum of 800 chill hours to efficiently break dormancy, and with most counties exceeding this number already, it seems as though our decision whether or not to oil should be based on speeding up harvest timing rather than breaking dormancy. However, there is talk in the industry about the abnormally high temperatures during the day possibly offsetting some of these hours, so bloom may in fact come earlier than expected.

Oiling will advance harvest 3-5 days, according to Bob Beede, Kings County Farm Adviser. At Paramount we are applying a 415 weight oil around February 15th to start harvest early. Starting harvest early is part of our harvest strategy. This strategy enables us to get through the acreage in a timely manner as opposed to all of the acreage maturing at one time.

Harvesting your crop in a timely manner maximizes product quality by decreasing light and dark stain in areas prone to late season Alternaria. An early harvest can also save your 10 cents/lb bonus

Historical Chill Hours Through January 15th

Area 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2005-11Average

Percent of Average

West Kern (Blackwell) 355 703 592 709 690 698 872 625 140%

Central Kern (Shafter) 522 764 691 773 816 644 882 702 126%

East Kern (Famoso) 506 759 676 773 823 697 896 706 127%

Madera 605 no data 748 867 804 643 1035 733 141%

Fresno (WSFS) 445 774 668 842 859 625 869 702 124%

NorCal (Tehama) 519 638 629 798 745 614 787 657 120%

To Speed Up Harvest Timing

from the 4th flight of Navel Orangeworm that hits later in the season.

For those with young trees with first year crops, oiling is a popular option because this practice increases the bloom uniformity by synchronizing the male and female flowers; which could reduce your blank percentage.

Grower-Harvester relationships are important when thinking about oiling to speed up harvest timing and can be a gamble for those who don’t have established connections. For this reason, if you are planning on oiling, start communicating with your harvester now to ensure your crop will get harvested when it needs to be.

Although oiling for an early harvest may be beneficial for Westside and Southern valley growers, caution should be taken for growers in high risk frost areas such as Madera and Northern California since it is not uncommon to experience April freezes in those areas, and since oiling will speed up bloom 12-14 days, oiled trees will be more susceptible to the weather and could jeopardize your crop.

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ReportField

New materials are always welcome given the highly adaptive nature of agricultural pests and weeds, and this year we will get some promising new tools in pistachios for CY12; two of which are herbicides boasting low PHI’s and long residuals. A host of new fungicides are also available offering promising Alternaria control.

Alion and Treevix are herbicides available for use this year. Alion is a preemergent with indaziflam as the active ingredient, it is said to have long residuals, and works on both grasses and broadleaf weeds. This is also an option for Marestail and Fleabane that have become resistant to glyphosate. Treevix is a post-emergent utilizing an active ingredient of saflufenacil that is effective against broadleaf weeds and compliments glyphosate well in a tank mix. Both Alion and Treevix have 7 day PHI’s and are a welcome addition for those with glyphosate resistance weeds.

Disease control is just as important as weed management, and the new fungicides this year may be game changers. A unique array of fungicides under the Luna name is available this year that utilizes fluopyram, a new active ingredient that has shown excellent Alternaria controls in several field trials. Bayer offers several different formulations of Luna such as Luna Sensation (fluopyram + azoxystrobin), Luna Experience (fluopyram + ebuconazole), Luna Privilege (fluopyram), and Luna Tranquility (fluopyram + pyremthanil).

Another new fungicide available this year is Fontelis, which is a new molecule called penthiopyrad and classified as a Group 7 fungicide. Fontelis won’t be available for commercial use until April, however.

We are all looking forward to finding out what crop year CY12 will bring; and with new materials in conjunction with a sustainable IPM program, the odds are in our favor.

New Materials for CY12

Alternaria readily develops resistance to

fungicides available on the market today. This year, a new line of materials will be

available that shows no sign of resistance

potential.

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Treevix is a post-emergent utilizing an active

ingredient of saflufenacil that is effective against broadleaf weeds and

compliments glyphosate well in a tank mix

Early Vertebrate Pest Management

InsideThis

Issue

Tailgate TalkOiling

To Speed Up Harvest Timing

Winter Sanitation

13646 Highway 33Lost Hills, CA

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