The California Avocado Commission will host a grower field day on Tuesday, May 20 from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. at the Pine Tree Ranch demonstration grove located at 19455 East Telegraph Road, Santa Paula, CA, 93060. Mr. Andre Biscaro, Irrigation and Water Resources Advisor for Ventura County, will discuss the development of a new online irrigation calculator for avocados. The calculator presents a simple user interface to enter a location (via zip code), irrigation system application rate and last irrigation date. When the user clicks ‘Calculate’, it connects to the CIMIS website, downloads the most recent reference ET and precipitation data from the station related to the zip code entered and does all the calculations in a matter of seconds. The tool will integrate the latest avocado crop coefficient data being developed by Dr. Ali Montazar, Irrigation and Water Management Advisor for Imperial, Riverside and San Diego Counties, from a separately funded CAC project.
Dr. Mary Lu Arpaia, UC Cooperative Extension Specialist, and Dr. Patricia Manosalva, UC Riverside Associate Professor of Plant Pathology, will discuss the latest results from the rootstock trial at Pine Tree Ranch and the plans for releasing new salinity and phytophthora tolerant rootstocks. The rootstock trial at Pine Tree Ranch contains 30 different rootstock selections from the UC breeding program, Israel and South Africa, and was planted in 2019. The rootstock trial has been an invaluable part of the evaluation program for new avocado rootstocks.
Dr. Ben Faber, Avocado Farm Advisor for Ventura County, and Dr. Tim Spann, CAC Research Program Consultant, will discuss pruning strategies for avocados. They will discuss what your goals should be for pruning, different types of pruning cuts, maintenance vs. remedial pruning and demonstrate these strategies on several trees.