You remember last week when Jenna mentioned spotting lots of ants parading around some almond orchard floors during her scouting rounds in the Valley.
Now is the time to monitor for ants in the almond orchard. |
Well, this is the prime time for growers to
head into their orchards, put on their census bureau hats and start taking
count of this pest. This is the optimum time to detect ant damage, says veteran
entomologist and almond expert Walt Bentley, UC IPM emeritus. You certainly
don’t want ants colonizing your orchards come summertime.
This is the damage caused by ants. |
Sometimes, growers don’t even know they
have an ant problem because nests could be hidden by a cover crop or other
things. There are many reasons for ants to build up. Some include the trend
toward drip irrigation and microsprinklers as well as drought conditions and
warm winters. Ants like to live around moist conditions.
The major concern is at harvest time when
almonds are shaken off the trees to dry. Ants can get into an open shell and
eat at the kernel. Soft shell varieties such as Nonpareils and Fritz are the
most vulnerable.
Take care of ants before tree shaking occurs. |
How do you tell if you have an ant problem?
You should be looking at a 1,000 square
foot area in the orchard, Walt says. “If you start getting eight or nine
colonies in that 1,000 square feet then you probably need to manage the ants,
particularly if you have soft shell varieties,” he tells us. The Almond Doctor
– UC extension advisor David Doll of Merced County – has made available a handy
UC IPM ant
colony monitoring form for growers to use.
Use ant bait to control the ant populations. |
Ideally, the best time to control ants is
in late winter or early spring when ant nests are shallow. As the weather gets
warmer, ants will burrow deeper into the ground. Ant bait is considered the
preferred method to control the pests. You want to take care of the pest before
harvest. Check the http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r3300411.html
for more information about dealing with ants.
In other observations, Walt points out some
almond growers may have been lax in orchard sanitation this past year. Walt’s a
vocal advocate for getting rid of mummy nuts during the winter to avoid
problems with navel orangeworm. “We had
a couple of good years where the navel orangeworm was very low. Because of that, you can get a little
complacent.” The result, Walt says, is “you may see a bit of an uptick in navel
orangeworm this season.”
Field
Day Alert: An impressive line-up of UC experts are lined up for a Cotton
Field Day on Wednesday, June 5 from 10 a.m. to noon at the McCurdy Farm on
Highway 33 in Firebaugh. Go to the Sustainable Cotton Project website for directions. The speakers
are: Dr. Pete Goodell for a cotton pest management update; Steve Wright of UCCE
in Tulare on herbicide resistance; Dan Munk of UCCE Fresno on cotton production
risks in low water years; and UC cotton extension specialist Dr. Bob Hutmacher.
Tell a friend and neighbor.