Unseasonably warm October temperatures are forcing California walnut growers to irrigate longer and harvest earlier, disrupting typical farming routines.
“You’re going to have great years, and you’re going to have years that just don’t do well,” Ken Mitchell of Mitchell Farms said.
Mitchell noted that the industry is about seven to 10 days ahead of schedule this year.
“We’re usually a little later. I think this year as an industry we’re about 7 to 10 days ahead of schedule,” he said.
At Mitchell Farms, the warmer weather has led to continued irrigation when it would normally be scaling back. Recent agricultural data show walnut orchards in the Sacramento Valley used more than an inch of water last week at several monitoring sites.
Mitchell explained how the lack of natural moisture is affecting the orchards.
“If we’re doing a little irrigation in the morning, I’m adding humidity,” he said. “We should have some humidity increases in the morning just from the dew. I don’t believe we’ve had much of this last week with the hotter temperatures, so I’m adding a little moisture in this canopy to be able to get some nuts and get them down.”
The warm conditions are also impacting the trees’ preparation for winter dormancy.
“Eventually, hopefully we get enough cold chill hours that these trees will go dormant, so last thing I want to do is give a bunch of water this time of year and grow any more growth on these trees because we’re done growing now as a tree,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell added that the long-term effects of these conditions on next year’s growing season remain uncertain and will only become clear during next year’s harvest.
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