Almond planting guides
New guides to support almond planting and early tree establishment
Dr Grant Thorp and Ann Smith Plant & Food Research
POTENTIAL innovations in the propagating , planting and early tree establishment of almond trees are outlined in a new set of guides produced by Plant and Food Research . The three-part series – All About Almonds – is available on the
ABA website . Researchers Dr Grant Thorp and Ann Smith provide a brief review of their experiences with tree propagation , planting and establishment practices in Australia , California and Spain . They also explore the positive and negative aspects of the systems they encountered and describe the new approaches they introduced into their research trials . Plant and Food Research has been involved with the Australian almond industry since 2014 , working on projects to help redesign almond orchards , to take a fresh approach to lift productivity above the norms established by Californian growers . When working on similar projects with other crops , research was started in the nursery as a route towards making changes in the orchard . The researchers asked early questions around the type of trees being produced by nurseries , the methods used during planting and early establishment , and how the different rootstock / scion combinations affected this . Their aim was to increase yields without increasing costs . The guides are spread across three parts , with a summary of each section provided below .
1 . In the nursery
Most fruit growers look to nurseries to supply trees that require minimal effort and cost to plant and establish in their orchards . In Australia , most almond trees are spring-budded in November / December in field nurseries and then delivered to orchards in the following winter for planting as bare-rooted trees . In Part 1 , the researchers describe variations on this theme that they encountered during establishment of their research trials .
Once growers have received their
Nurseries seek to produce a consistent tree quality to avoid additional downstream costs for growers .
trees , the race is on to have these planted and pruned / trained to develop a strong fruiting canopy sufficient to produce their first commercial crop . Part 2 focuses on evaluating different options as alternatives to the traditional “ heading cut and trim ” tree type and open-vase pruning method for early tree management .
Our approach to developing new growing systems for almond has been to focus on minimal pruning while encouraging trees to produce tall , narrow canopies that enable early high yields with better utilization of incoming sunlight . As a result , the researchers focus on planting unpruned , single-axis trees direct from the nursery to be trained with a central leader . In Part 3 , they describe the various remedial and maintenance pruning techniques used to maintain the desired narrow canopies and to produce strong branching frameworks able to withstand strong winds and heavy crop loads , especially on young trees .
Central leader Nonpareil tree in spring . Note the extended zone of scaffold branding on the central leader and the wrap-around spray guard . industry . australianalmonds . com . au
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