By Curt Nelson, Certis Biologicals Regional Manager, CA San Joaquin Valley
We are nearing the end of our tree nut growing season with hull-split just around the corner, and it’s always the time of year when growers start to worry about getting their season and their crops safely over the finish line.
Hull-split is a critical time for ramping up crop protection efforts, because when that protective hull starts to break open, it leaves the nut meat exposed to pests and diseases that can destroy your profits right before harvest. During hull-split, planning for a single application, if not two, will give you confidence going into harvest with a strong and healthy crop.
These hull-split applications require an aggressive IPM strategy in combination with your other inputs and time points up to harvest.
Biologicals can, and should be, an integral part of your hull-split protection strategy, for several reasons, including:
Biologicals offer flexibility unmatched by conventional chemistries
Many of the products in the Certis Biologicals portfolio are OMRI-Listed® and NOP-Approved, which means they can work on either conventional or organic acreage. With an industry-leading portfolio of solutions in all categories, you can rest assured that we have a product that is well-suited for your need.
Biologicals can save time and energy
At Certis, we believe your time and energy are important, especially during critical times in the growing season. Because our products can be tank-mixed with many of your other crop inputs and conventional chemistries, you will spend less time applying, saving you the time of multiple applications. Often, our biologicals even work together with chemistries to compliment and increase potency, which is a win-win for you and your trees.
Biologicals can help you get it done quickly
Time is money, right? During hull-split, that’s doubly true and as we lead up into harvest, it is critical that your crop protection doesn’t lock you out of our orchard. Many of the Certis products you need have short re-entry intervals and even shorter pre-harvest intervals, meaning you can get it done quickly and effectively. Not to mention, many of our products get to work quickly, so you won’t need to wait around for pests to die or disease pressure to dissipate.
Resistance rates are lower with biologicals
To be effective in the fight against resistance is something we have to take seriously year after year. Slip up, even once, and you could be facing the consequences for years. Biologicals offer many great traits that can help in that fight, including their ability to be rotated with many other chemistries. Don’t use the same active ingredient year after year—with biocontrols in your belt, just rotate them to maintain efficacy. Also, products like Certis USA’s Double Nickel® and Trilogy® have different and multiple modes of action necessary to break the resistance cycle and continuously deliver control.
During hull-split, it’s important that you use every tool available to ensure that you can protect your crop and harvest safely. Our Certis portfolio is the most comprehensive set of solutions in the market, meaning our controls leave little room for error.
If our team at Certis can help you make the most of your hull-split applications and our portfolio of biological solutions, please reach out to us directly at asktheexpert@certisbio.com.
We are always glad to be with you during the most important times of your season!
This series is part of a partnership with Tree Nut Farm Press. You can read the original here.
