More than a decade of Almond Board-funded research is challenging once-held assumptions about almond pruning and tree spacing and their impacts on efficient almond production.
University of California Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor Roger Duncan, Stanislaus County, says that based on what he has learned through his own trials and additional research, the goal in designing an orchard should be to maximize light interception through minimal pruning and training, proper rootstock selection and optimal spacing to maximize yield while being careful not to cause orchard management problems.
Duncan’s ongoing 37-acre Stanislaus County trial confirms past research in almond growing regions throughout California: There are many reasons to prune an almond orchard, but yield does not appear to be one of them. The trial has also shown that traditional tree spacing of 22 feet by 22 feet or more is probably too far apart to intercept the sunlight necessary to optimize production in most orchards.
Since 1999, the trial has looked at various pruning and training strategies for Nonpariel and Carmel on Nemaguard and Hansen 536 (peach-almond hybrid) rootstock combinations. The spacing range includes 10’ x 22’, 14’ x 22’, 18’ x 22’ and 22’ x 22’.
Pruning Strategies
Pruning strategies range from untrained trees with no annual pruning (except to remove broken limbs or for equipment access and safety) to the traditional trees trained to three scaffolds with open centers and annual pruning.
Two intermediate treatments include trees trained to three scaffolds with open centers and unpruned (except for breakage and equipment access) after the second dormant season; and minimal training with four to six scaffolds, open centers, followed by minimal pruning of no more than three pruning cuts annually.
The goal of this research is to find an orchard spacing configuration and pruning/training technique that produces the most benefit in yield potential and profitability without creating problems related to crop drying, limb breakage, orchard diseases, and worker safety.
Research by UCCE Almond Specialist Bruce Lampinen on mid-day light interception—also supported through the Almond Board’s Production Research program—has examined various rates of light interception and their impacts on yield, nut quality, diseases and orchard profitability. Lampinen’s research illustrates that every 1 percent increase in sunlight interception equates to a 50-pound-per-acre higher yield potential. Therefore, theoretically, if 100 percent of the mid-day light is intercepted by the tree canopy, it would provide a yield potential of 5,000 kernel pounds per acre, not accounting for other factors in the orchard that would detract from this potential.
80/20 Rule for Light Interceptions
Too little light reaching the orchard floor, however, can lead to problems with crop drying and promote food safety and orchard disease issues. The research shows that high productivity can be maintained and there is enough sunlight for drying when 80 percent of sunlight is intercepted and 20 percent reaches the orchard floor. Practical on-farm methods to measure light interception are being developed.
At a recent field day, Farm Advisor Duncan reviewed this trial and said that growers can often achieve the above goal without creating additional problems in the orchard through a balanced tree spacing and pruning strategy.
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