Vegetation Management Options in Almond Orchards

Abstract

A well maintained orchard floor is critical for insuring year-round orchard access and a clean almond harvest operation. This study compared three methods of orchard floor vegetation management over a 4-year period. The objective of this study was to evaluate cost effective vegetation management programs for difficult to control summer annual weeds while maintaining the population of desirable winter annual species. Common purslane (Portulaca oleracea) can be a major summer weed problem that interferes with almond harvesting operations. A low rate residual herbicide program controlled purslane more consistently than mechanical or chemical mowing programs. Desirable winter weed cover was preserved in all three management systems. The costs for each program were similar; however, there was a reduction in the number of operations required for both chemical mowing and low rate residual programs compared to the mechanical mowing program.