It’s one thing to take over an established grove of nut or fruit trees. It’s quite another to try to nurse an entire orchard through its early stages of growth.
To help growers with new trees, the UC Cooperative Extension is holding a free workshop in Stockton focusing on young orchard irrigation and nutrient management. The sessions will highlight the best strategies for nurturing young almond, pistachio, walnut, olive, citrus and peach orchards.
The four-hour workshop, scheduled for Feb. 20 at the Robert Cabral Agricultural Center, is intended for growers, certified crop advisers and other agricultural professionals. Experts will present a series of sessions on each of the orchard types and explain the latest methods on how to keep them healthy as they mature. Lunch will follow.
“Attendees will gain insights into the irrigation and nutrient needs of young orchards, which are different from those applicable to mature orchards,” Moneim Mohamed, UC Cooperative Extension irrigation and soils advisor for Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Merced counties, said in a statement.
Presenters also will show what changes need to be made as the trees mature.
“This knowledge aims to ensure healthier tree development, better resource use and more resilient orchards in the face of climate change,” Mohamed said.
As a follow up, workshop attendees can ask for one-on-one assistance from a cooperative extension farm advisor.
Besides Mohamed, other speakers will include UC Cooperative Extension advisers Mae Culumber, Cameron Zuber, Tobias Oker, Phoebe Gordon and Raymond Mireles; cooperative extension specialists Giulia Marino and Khaled Bali; Charles Hillyer, the director of the Center for Irrigation Technology at Fresno State; and U.S. Department of Agriculture research agronomist Sultan Begna.
Additional workshops, which are supported by a grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, are slated in Madera, Parlier and Tulare.
Registration for the Stockton workshop, as well as the others, is required. Sign up here.