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A L M O N D O R C H A R D 2 0 2 5 G O A L S PEST MANAGEMENT Almond Board of California 4 Spray Savvy, Reduce Drift Harvest 2020 is behind us and just like that another year of production begins. With a new year comes what should be an established habit of calibrating your spray equipment as you look ahead to applications necessary before and after bloom. While calibration itself is needed to address the big picture of accurate applications, one must consider a variety of other factors. After all, as Mel Machado, director of Member Relations at Blue Diamond Growers, so aptly said, an application isn't "fairy dust – you can't just blow it into the tree and expect it to work." By 2025, the California almond industry is committed to increase adoption of environmentally friendly pest management tools by 25%. One of the ways that the Almond Board of California (ABC) is measuring the industry's progress toward this goal – one of four Almond Orchard 2025 Goals – is by monitoring growers' efficacy in addressing key pest problems using recommended Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies, one of which involves reducing spray drift. The successful use of tree protection materials in a grower's IPM program requires proper application to maximize efficiency and efficacy. When done correctly, not only can pest control be improved, but growers can also see reductions in wasted product and drift potential – not to mention greater returns and a reduction in environmental impact as off-site movement via drift or deposition on the orchard floor is minimized. According to University of California (UC) Assistant Cooperative Extension (CE) Specialist in Agricultural Application Engineering, Peter Larbi, growers' applications can either be on target (the goal), fall to the ground directly or indirectly from the leaves above or miss the target and remain airborne via spray drift. The most important factor to reduce spray drift is to "make sure the spray is directed to the target canopy – better coverage creates less drift," said Larbi. Careful calibration Without proper sprayer setup, spray accuracy and crop protection efficacy may decline, and growers may face a much higher risk of offsite movement. Growers are advised to calibrate sprayers at least once a year, though the best strategy includes calibrating for every season's conditions: once before dormancy and once at full leaf-out. Proper calibration ensures spray rigs are ready to accurately deliver a Pest Control Advisor's (PCA's) recommended amount of specified material to the trees. "Growers should calibrate their equipment – including adjusting nozzles A L M O N D O R C H A R D 2 0 2 5 G O A L S PEST MANAGEMENT Continue on page 5