Growing the Valley

Dr. Franz Niederholzer (UCCE Orchard Advisor in Colusa and Sutter/Yuba) discusses how irrigation best practices in prune orchards this summer maximize grower returns and orchard longevity.

Details at…

Phoebe and Luke discuss important things to keep track of in July.

Thank you to the Almond, Pistachio, Prune, and Walnut Boards of California for their kind donations. Thank you to Muriel Gordon for t…

Dr. Ken Shackel (UC Davis) sits down to discuss what we know about coping with drought in almond production.

For more information consult the UC Almond Drought Tip.

Thank you to the Almond, Pistachio,…

In the 200th episode of Growing the Valley Podcast – Sarah Castro (UC Davis) discusses exciting new varieties in the prune breeding program.

Mark your calendars for the August 4th UC Davis Prune Bree…

Phoebe, Luke, and Roger Duncan (UCCE Stanislaus) discuss results out of their respective regional almond variety trial sites.

Additional resources:

Two walnut meetings on Thursday, June 16. UCCE Waln…

Spotted Lanternfly is in the United States and could pose a threat to some of the specialty crops we grow here in California. Surendra Dara explains what it is, where it has been found, and what cro…

Dr. Mae Culumber (Fresno County) and Dr. Brent Holtz (San Joaquin County) discuss how Whole Orchard Recycling—the practice of incorporating recycled wood chips from old orchards into soil prior to pl…

Phoebe and Luke step up to the plate once again to see who wins this month’s one minute challenge! They also discuss farm call trends and other issues.

San Joaquin Valley event list: https://www.sj…

Mallika Nocco (Specialist at UC Davis) discusses ETa with Phoebe, as well as some research she is doing to try to develop a method for managing irrigation in an orchard with remote sensing.

Thank you…

Climate change is a threat to high chill crops like walnuts, and we know very little about how these plants will react (they’re too big to do controlled climate studies on!). Katherine Jarvis-Shean …

Dr. Roger Baldwin (UCCE Specialist: Human-Wildlife Conflict Resolution) discusses management of vertebrate pests: ground squirrels, voles, moles, roof rats, and deer mice.

Resource links for managin…

Phoebe sits down with Judith Stahl and Kent Daane (both with UC Berkeley) to discuss plant bugs: life history, damage, and the potential to use trap crops to manage these pests.

More information on co…

Phoebe and Luke go over April tasks for almonds, prunes, pistachios, and walnuts.

Thank you to the Almond, Pistachio, Prune, and Walnut Boards of California for their kind donations. Thank you to Muri…

Roger Duncan (UCCE Stanislaus) and Dr. Ken Shackel (UC Davis Plant Sciences) discuss methods of determining when to initiate spring irrigation and current start-of-irrigation experiments in almond ba…

Elizabeth Fichtner, UCCE Tulare County, shares information on managing nitrogen in olive orchards. Careful management is required, as excess nitrogen can negatively impact olive quality.

Thank you to…

Dr. Roger Baldwin (UCCE Specialist in Human-Wildlife Conflict Resolution) discusses orchard management of pocket gophers, including control options and timing based on environmental conditions and re…

Phoebe sits down with three guests (the first in Growing the Valley history!) to discuss what climate adaptation in California agriculture might look like. She’s joined by Gurreet Brar (CSU Fresno),…

In our 1-minute challenges Luke and Phoebe describe key almond, pistachio, prune, and walnut orchard tasks for the month of February!

Upcoming meeting dates:

Feb 7: 2022 Quad-County Walnut Day

Feb 8: …

Dr. Helen Dahlke (UC Davis Department of Land, Air and Water Resources) discusses the principles of groundwater recharge in California, where and in which crops it can occur, and its effects on overa…