Nut Crop

• Low volume irrigation is more effective with evaporation loss
• Low volume irrigation can be micro irrigation, button emitters, or cap emitters
• During your 5th year you should be really pushing for the 41 inches of water
• In summer don't irrigate until May
• Pressure bombs can be used to avoid drought stress
• Mild drought stress symptoms include limited vegetative growth, slow decrease in kernel development, and decrease in productivity of next year
• Moderate drought stress symptoms include shoot growth stopping, nut size decreasing, decline in fruit next year
• High drought stress symptoms are the leaves wilting, hulls shriveling, and very dark kernels
• Before harvest you should be evaluating for PTB
• Before harvest, you should evaluate the hull split, this happens after the kernel matures and you want the splitting to be uniform and the hull easy to remove
• Ethephon is a PGR that is applied to release ethylene and makes for more uniform hull split and shake
• Ethephon will not be effective unless whole crop is at PTB and not drought stress
• If trees are drought-stressed and ethephon is applied then the trees could be defoliated
• Ethephon can increase the chance of early harvest which can give you better nut color, avoid late flights of navel orange worm, and avoid late flights of walnut husk fly
• You should harvest at about 80% hull split
• Orchard floor management includes managing irrigation, weed control, and using a conditioner
• The orchard floor needs to be clean
• A conditioner is a machine that picks up sticks, weeds, and rocks off of the orchard floor
• When harvesting you use the shaker, sweeper, and then the pick up machine
• You can start harvesting as soon as mid September
• You want to harvest all crop in 1-2 shakes
• Harvest process: shake, sweep into windrows, pick up fruit
• Be careful when shaking young trees to not damage the bark
• Pull back irrigation, apply ethephon, and then wait until the latest point to harvest
• Pick up the crop the same day you shake otherwise the hulls will stain the shells
• The quality of the nut declines greatly after the first 9 hours especially if the fruit is in the sun or the temperature is above 90 degrees
• The fruit can mold if it is not dry because the hull is wet