Saturday's early morning showers were significant in different places. In McFarland we picked up about 1/2". Buttonwillow had just a trace of rain. Fortunately, the breeze came up and dried the leaves throughout the afternoon.
Almonds: We sprayed Plant Bugs as they appeared, or when their feeding was observed. My good friend and very respected PCA Tony Tomma (BioAg) said that he has had to treat Plant Bugs as late as August!
This week, we will be leaf sampling to help with our nutritional program adjustments.
Grapes: Spotty Mildew is showing up due to inability to access vineyards and temperatures not conducive to dusting.
We can now begin dusting in earnest. We recommend all vineyards except raisins to have Abound or the generic Satori. We are taking every opportunity to stretch the bunches with seaweed.
Pistachios: Wow what a bunch of clusters! Dan found earwigs feeding upon leaf petiole margins in young pistachios. These guys will be removed by our nut set Plant Bug spray.
Nursery: Warm weather nitrogen water runs coming up. Actively growing young plants are susceptible to nitrogen induced Zinc deficiency. I like to add 1 qt of Zinc Chelate plus 1 qt Humic Acid to 9.5 gal of UN32. Mildew is tough and expensive to control. Especially since sulfur is not part of a regular nursery program.
I noticed Nordox Orange Copper had been applied to the tomato plants that I purchased from Lowe's (for my home garden.) Good job Lowe's nurserymen!
Nematodes: The Bayer SNAP program is being utilized by savvy PCA's. This program pays the lab cost for the grower.
Fall carrot ground is being sampled in the Southern end of the Valley.
I found some Longidorus (pictured below) in samples from Coachella. This is an introduced nematode. It wreaks havoc upon carrots and golf course grasses.
Sales: A grower recently introduced me to Fracture fungicide. It is an extract from the Lupine plant. It has good reviews from people who used it in
grapes to fight Mildew. We will keep a close eye on this one.
Have a great week and enjoy the upcoming good weather!