Recent April rains have soaked up the soils of farms, which they desperately needed, but they have also had an influence on early walnut trees because they have already developed fruit buds.
Experts from the Union of Associations of Nut Crops of Moldova advise farmers not to skip the application of copper-containing fungicides and insecticides to their orchards in April in order to protect the upcoming early walnut harvest, which is anticipated to be low due to weather conditions in the first half of spring.
The situation is exacerbated by low sales of walnuts from the 2022 harvest for exports in the Moldovan market throughout the current marketing season, with both purchase prices and product quantities being low, as stated by EastFruit experts. on order to reduce production costs, many walnut growers intend to use less “non-critical” phosphate and potash fertiliser on their orchards in the forthcoming season.
The union’s experts emphasise that fungicidal treatment is essential for Moldova’s spring walnut harvest and that the accompanying costs are typically low. Given the potential influence on the harvest of valuable walnut types like the early export variety of Peschansky walnut and several American selection kinds, disregarding this crucial stage in orchard management would not be economically prudent.
Source: east-fruit.com, Feature Photo https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-of-a-walnut-13873939/
20 April 2023
