So are you ready for some more almond updates? Let me answer "Heck Yes" for you. So I was back in CA last week and here is how the trees look now. The blossoms are all gone.
The bees did their job as we see loads of almonds growing now where there were flowers before. And we did not see any obvious frost damage which was a big concern on an earlier visit.
Remember when Dylan held a small almond blossom pistil in his hand a few weeks ago? Well now he's holding the developing almond nut. That almond is going to need some added nutrition to make it to harvest in the fall. And that is where AgroLiquid comes in.
Almond watchers SAM's Dylan and Armando, plus Chemist Chris discuss all things almonds with the ranch manager and researcher. Now AgroLiquid fertilizers are used in a number of commercial operations, but we wanted to design an experiment to prove the value of AgroLiquid's different nutrient options. Well that is the objective anyway. I'm confident. It's time for some plot fertilizer application.
This tractor is applying liquid fertilizer treatments to a plot of almond trees. Several replicated treatments are applied in this long row of trees.
Fertilizers are normally applied in the irrigation water, through that small sprinkler there coming out of the black water line. To simulate fertilizer application, the fertilizer treatments are sprayed on the ground with the nozzles. The nozzles are positioned to apply over the irrigated area. To be realistic, the nozzles ran some earlier to wet the ground. Then the sprayer applies the fertilizers in a high application volume of 200 gallons per acre. This is to evenly spread the fertilizers over the zone. Then after application, the water is turned on again to thoroughly incorporate the treatments. I'm convinced that this is as realistic as you can get for treatment application. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. And no wind.
It helps that AgroLiquid fertilizers are all compatible with each other and can easily be applied all at once instead of in separate applications as is necessary with some fertilizers. The researcher was impressed with AgroLiquid's product compatibility. There are a number of applications left, but that should hold them for now. It takes well planned applications of a complete nutrient package to get best response. So we will be following progress, and I plan to re-visit the test to keep you all posted. There were some other interesting sights seen during the week, so stay tuned.
