February 12, 2016 9 CapitalPress.com Subscribe to our weekly California email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters California Weather could complicate almond blossom By TIM HEARDEN “It’s the same question every year, but for 2016, if weather predictions hold true, SACRAMENTO — it may be a challenge to pro- Mid-February is almond blos- tect blossoms from diseases som time in California, but while at the same time pro- the cold and blustery weather viding a safe environment for anticipated this month could bees to do their thing,” board interfere with bee activity, in- spokeswoman Linda Roman- dustry insiders warn. der said in an email. Storms that have been roll- While El Nino was ex- LQJLQRIIWKH3DFL¿F2FHDQLV pected to usher in a warm ¿OOLQJ UHVHUYRLUV DQG SXWWLQJ and wet winter, many of the copious amounts of snow in storms that have rolled into the Sierra Nevada, but they California have been fed by may coincide with a blossom a northern jet stream, bring- expected to be a little ahead ing lower temperatures from of schedule, Almond Board Canada and producing im- Tim Hearden/Capital Press RI&DOLIRUQLDRI¿FLDOVVD\ pressive levels of snow. Wet weather during the Almond trees in an orchard at the California State University-Chico One storm that passed bloom isn’t unusual, but bees farm blossom in late February of 2014. Weather could complicate through on Feb. 3 was expect- need temperatures above 55 this year’s blossom, almond industry insiders say. ed to push snow levels as low degrees, little wind and no as 1,500 feet in far Northern rain to do their business, Uni- Franz Niederholzer explains. ÀRZHUVSXWWLQJKRQH\EHHVDW California, according to the versity of California Cooper- Wet weather at bloom fa- more risk, the almond board National Weather Service. A ative Extension farm adviser vors fungal infections of the explains. manual snow survey conduct- Capital Press ed east of Sacramento on Feb. 2 found a snowpack that was 130 percent of normal for this time of year. The federal Climate Pre- diction Center expects condi- tions in California to dry out and warm up over the next two weeks, which could ig- nite the bloom. But wet weather will like- ly return, as the next month to three months are still ex- pected to bring above-aver- age chances of precipitation throughout the state, accord- ing to the center. The almond board is urging growers to follow a best-practices guide it devel- oped in 2014 after many Cal- ifornia beekeepers lost both adult bees and broods that winter as a mixture of fungi- cides used by almond grow- ers and insecticides applied to ¿HOGFURSVSURYHGKDUPIXO The board advises grow- ers to limit spray materials in the tank to just fungicides, avoiding tank-mixing with insecticides. The one excep- tion is the insecticide Bacillus thuringiensis, which is shown to be safe for adult and brood bees, the board explains. ,IUDLQDQG¿HOGFRQGLWLRQV limit access, growers can use newer fungicide chemistries WKDW IHDWXUH PRUH ÀH[LEOH timing because they are lo- cally systemic and provide reach-back activity against a recent infection, according to a board news release. The new pesticides can be applied at pink bud to provide disease protection and may be the only bloom spray needed under low-disease-pressure conditions, the release ex- plained. Study: No alternatives to chlorpyrifos for 2 key almond pests Capital Press CHICO, Calif. — Re- searchers looking for alter- natives to the heavily scruti- nized pesticide chlorpyrifos KDYH LGHQWL¿HG D SDLU RI GH- structive bugs in almond or- chards that don’t respond to anything else. While other pests will re- spond to other treatment com- binations, leaffooted plant bugs and stink bugs — which both feed on and damage de- veloping nuts — won’t, said Pete Goodell, a University of California Cooperative Exten- sion pest control adviser. A team of scientists, grow- ers and industry representa- WLYHVLGHQWL¿HGFRQWUROOLQJWKH two bugs as a “critical use” of chlorpyrifos, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering ban- ning for agricultural use. “Chlorpyrifos is an import- ant tool for” integrated pest management, Goodell said during a Feb. 5 workshop in Chico. “It’s used for a number of almond pests.” However, “chlorpyrifos is showing up in waterways. When something is getting in the water, people don’t like it,” he said. Used on 60 crops The EPA took comments in the fall on its plan to re- voke food residue tolerances for chlorpyrifos, which is pro- duced by Dow AgroSciences and acts as a contact or stom- ach poison to pests. The agency has asserted that humans’ exposure risk to chlorpyrifos could exceed safety standards “in certain watersheds” — particular- ly small watersheds where the pesticide is heavily used. Chlorpyrifos was banned in residential use about 15 years ago. In California, the chemical is used on some 60 crops in- cluding tree nuts, oranges and grapes, regulators say. It’s unclear whether the EPA would carve out crit- ical-use exemptions while phasing out chlorpyrifos, as has been done for methyl bromide and other chemicals, said Randy Segawa, a state Department of Pesticide Reg- ulation program manager. Segawa said the EPA is taking the economic risks from the ban into account. “While the EPA is propos- ing to revoke all food toler- ances, their main concern has been drinking water,” he said, adding that chlorpyrifos res- idues showing up in drinking water hasn’t been as much of an issue in California. While chlorpyrifos is heav- ily regulated in California and its use has declined, between 1 million and 2 million pounds of the chemical is still applied to crops in the state each year, DPR spokeswoman Charlotte Fedipe has said. In 2014, the DPR contract- ed with the UC’s Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program to create communi- W\VSHFL¿F JXLGHOLQHV IRU XV- ing chlorpyrifos. Teams focused on its use on alfalfa, almonds, citrus fruit and cotton, identifying alternatives as well as instanc- es when use of the chemical is critical to protecting the crop. A resulting report exam- ined other pest-control tactics, including pest-resistant vari- HWLHV PDWLQJ GLVUXSWLRQ ¿HOG sanitation and other insecti- cides. ‘Essential element’ However, the teams found that chlorpyrifos is an “essen- tial element” in maintaining crop production and quality, the report stated. For almonds, the team made lists of pests according to how frequently they invade orchards and what alternative treatments were available, Goodell said. Leaffooted plant bugs and VWLQN EXJV ZHUH LGHQWL¿HG DV “key pests with no alterna- tives,” he said. Leaffooted bugs show up in orchards in March or April and feed on young nuts be- fore the shell hardens, causing them to abort or causing the nut to gum internally, accord- ing to the IPM program. Damage by stink bugs usu- ally occurs during the period from May through July, when the bugs insert their strawlike mouthparts through the hull and into the kernel. 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