Soil Health and Baby Tree Performance

One of the common challenges faced by apple growers when establishing new plantings is optimizing tree growth to get the allotted space filled as quickly as possible in order to begin setting crops in year 2 or 3 without stunting trees. Several factors are important...

Irrigation Initiation

What a difference a year makes! Last year, growers were well into the irrigation season by March 1st, while this year, we will need to be careful not to initiate irrigations too soon. Wet Spring conditions, particularly saturated soils, are conducive to early disease...

Early Season Nitrogen Strategies in a VERY Wet Year

Almond nitrogen needs are now in full swing, but with the extremely wet conditions, there is no need for irrigation, thus no ability for fertigation, which is the primary means of delivering nitrogen to the 1.3 million acres of almonds grown in California. Wet weather...

The Importance of Soil Temperatures

Monitoring soil moisture as we enter Spring is common, however, soil temperature can be easily overlooked. Why are Spring soil temperatures important to look at in the first place? Root growth is typically initiated once soil temperature reaches 45° or higher. Coming...

Seed-Placed Fertilizer & Seed Size Performance

Agronomists are always looking for ways to help growers place plant nutrients beneath the soil surface for maximum agronomic effectiveness. Applying fertilizer directly with the seed is one option, but there is a limit to how much fertilizer can be placed there. There...