Winter Work
Deep Ripping
Now is the time, if you haven’t already, to get your block prepped for new almond development. We have a D8R with 3 shanks capable of running a maximum of 65″ depth depending on your soil. Ripping in two directions fractures or loosens soil to allow for many things to take place:
- Breaking up hard pan that would otherwise be a barrier for moisture movement causing wet feet or stunting root growth
- Loosening soil to allow for faster and more uniform root growth resulting in better tree anchorage and increased overall tree growth in the early years of tree establishment
- Allows tree to put more energy into above ground growth as well
- Some intermixing of soils if there are different soil types, layers, or excessive salt/nutrient concentrations
Shank depth varies by grower depending on what they would like to accomplish. At a minimum, 30″ is recommended.
Weeds
Now is the time to put on pre-emergence weed sprays. Fleabane, Italian Rye and other problem weeds start germinating now. A brief rundown on the choices:
Alion gets most weeds. Works best with a killer that will get the sprouted weeds beneath the surface .
Broadworks Kills broad leaf weeds only. Would need to be mixed with grass killer Surflan or Prowl. Suppresses Nut Sedge. Is good with Alion.
Chateau is still good, it also gets almost all weeds. By itself at 10 oz. it will give good results. Can be used at 2-4 oz. rate with Alion.
Goal (oxyflurofen), Goaltender are good by themselves except they will not get Fleabane or Mare’s Tail.
Matrix is often recommended to use with Alion. It will suppress nut sedge.
Pindar is a good stand alone. It gets all weeds and there is no need to mix anything with it. Expensive, but it works well.
Princep, Simizine work on mainly broadleaves. Will take out Fleabane.
Solicam suppresses nut sedge. But can turn trees white.
Trellis is good on broadleaves only. It is very safe, but very expensive.
All except Matrix can sit up to 4 weeks before being watered in. Matrix works better if water is applied within a week.
Compost
Four tons of compost were put on a study orchard in 2016. One block used manure based compost and the other green waste compost. Each year the amount of nitrogen released from it was measured. After 4 years 75 pounds of nitrogen was released. If this practice was done every year there would be a steady supply of nitrogen of at least 75 pounds every year.
Studies also found that commercial fertilizer and compost produced the most efficient use of Nitrogen. Also compost increased already existing Nitrogen levels in the soil.
Site: Treevine Consulting, Gary Gliddon PCA