“The rain carried into spring and saved a lot of irrigation and energy costs, plus reduced tree stress which helped with growth,” Cordova says. “The Independence variety on the nematode-resistant rootstock grew 2-3 feet this year.”

He attributes some of the tree growth to plant-based compost applied every year or two in the orchards during the last five years. Cordova spreads it around the tree rows, rather than across the whole orchard. He applies four tons per acre.

In the fall, he fertilizes the trees with nitrogen, applying UN32 and CAN17 with a potassium treatment (KTS or similar liquid) through the water, basing the application rate on the results of soil and leaf testing.

After harvest, he applies sulfate of potash at the rate of 500 pounds per acre.

By leaving a cover of natural vegetation between the tree rows, Cordova says this encourages tree growth by adding organic matter and improving soil structure. He mows the vegetation close to the ground before shaking the trees to help with nut removal at harvest.

To minimize the time and expense of pruning, he selects three to six scaffold branches one year after planting the trees. Then, instead of cutting the branches back to a short branch, he tries to stimulate early production by removing just the limb tips which opens up the center of the tree.

After the third year, Cordova removes only the dead wood, plus any limbs that interfere with spraying, and opens up the centers as needed.

He reports unusually light pressure from insect pests in his almond and walnut orchards this year.

“We didn’t catch any codling months until the first week of July in walnuts and then just caught two afterwards,” he says. “And up until then, we hadn’t seen any husk flies.”

Typically, Cordova includes an insecticide to target Navel orangeworm and peach tree borer with his miticide spray in May. However, this season he only applied only the miticide Agri-Mek SC, along with Gem 500 SC fungicide and Superior oil plus potassium nitrate.

His hull split spray included Intrepid Edge and the fungicide Quash. This combination helped protect the unusually high population of mite predators.

Cordova has seen fewer ants this season which may reflect the bait treatments used to help limit numbers the last few seasons. This year, he plans a single application before harvest instead of his typical two in-season treatments.

The tree nut grower irrigates the tree nut orchards with groundwater using micro-sprinklers. Although the quality of the water has remained high over the last four years of drought, he says the water tabled has dropped to 260 feet.

In response, he lowered the bowls on two of his 700-foot deep wells by 40 feet and by 100 feet on another, and increased pump sizes to produce the needed water volume. Three years ago Cordova drilled a new well to a 740 foot depth, and placed the bowls about 350 feet deep.