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Sticks, leaves and dirt...OH MY!

Almonds are harvested off a tree, where we shake them on the ground. Then they are swept into rows and picked up. Sounds like a fairly easy and simply process but there are a lot of moving parts with several steps and processes along the way.

If you start with shaking a tree, the vibrations don't just knock the almonds off the tree but of course any loose sticks or leaves will also fall too. This could cause a problem when it comes to sweeping the nuts. The sticks could get caught in the sweeper brushes and maybe even get caught up in the irrigation hoses.

Once the nuts are in the rows and the harvester is set to run through to pick up the almonds, those sticks could be troublesome again. The harvester will generally have to run at a slower speed through the field as to allow for the sticks to not get caught up in the series of belts that carry the almonds up. When the harvester empties the almonds into the shuttle cart and further on the elevator, sticks can clog up belts and c…

Planting an almond orchard

Tractor creating berms
So we prepped the field, installed the irrigation system, now we are ready to plant our next almond orchard! Before the trees come we have to make berms or mounds for the trees to be planted on. Berms help to divert rain water and irrigation water away from the tree trunk to prevent root and trunk diseases. To make the berms a surveyor comes into the field and measures the row spacing with laser surveying equipment. He marks the center of the berm with a white bag for the tractor operator to know where to put the berms. 

We make our tree rows 24 feet apart so the trees have plenty of room to grow. The tractor goes through the orchard and makes the berms for the trees to be planted on top of. Once the berms are formed then we go through the orchard and lay the drip hose on the mounds for irrigation.  When the drip hose is connected to the irrigation system, then it's time to bring in the trees!

The surveyor comes back and measures the tree location for planting and marks the location with a plastic straw. Then a tractor pulls the trailer of trees through the orchard and the tree replaces the straws. A crew then goes through the orchard and plants each tree.

Each tree is planted 16 feet apart down the row in this orchard because we planted hard shell variety trees which will be smaller trees. Normally, we plant 18 feet apart for soft shells varieties that tend to be larger trees.  Now we have an almond orchard and in 3-4 years we will have a crop! 
Until Next Time,
Almond Girl


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