Nut crops

Fosetyl. Fosetyl (aluminium ethyl phosphate Figure 4.32) is a specific downy mildewicide (Oomycetes) used to control Plasmopara viticola in vines and Phytophthora blights in various fruit and nut crops. 

Just as atrazine is important in com, simazine is a pre-emergence triazine that provides broad-spectrum residual weed control in many of the important fruit and nut crops when applied either alone or in combination with a contact product such as glyphosate to control weeds at the time of application (Figure 1.5). 

Although simazine was the first triazine to be developed and marketed in corn as well as other crops, the more versatile atrazine quickly became the standard herbicide in corn. Simazine, however, has remained very valuable and is important on forage crops, ornamentals, turf, and several other vegetable, fruit and nut crops, including almond, apple, artichoke, avocado, berries, cherry, citrus, grape, hazelnut, peach, and walnut. There also remains a strong demand for simazine use in corn in some areas based on specific weed pressure. Simazine is manufactured and sold by several companies today in more than 25 countries around the world, with Brazil, the United States, Australia, and Japan ranked as the top four. 

Yield loss in fruit and nut crops caused by weeds that are not adequately controlled by available herbicides or weed management techniques was estimated at 450 million annually in the United States (Chandler et al., 1984). 

Lange, A.H. (1970). Weed control methods, losses and costs due to weeds, and benefits of weed control in deciduous fruit and nut crops. 

Triazine Herbicides for Weed Control in Fruit and Nut Crops... 

Deciduous fruit plants that lose their leaves each winter and become dormant include apple, pear, peach, prune, plum, cherry, apricot, fig, grape, bramble, and bush fruits. The deciduous nut crops include principally walnut, almond, pecan, pistachio, and hazelnut (filbert). Nearly 11 million tons (10 million metric tons) of fruit come from deciduous plants grown in 43 states in the United States. In 1998 in California alone, 8.9 million tons (8.1 metric tons) of fruits and nuts were harvested (Olds, 1998). Strawberry and pineapple, though not deciduous fruits, are included in this chapter because of triazine use on fruit crops. The major growing areas for the United States are shown in Table 17.1, and these same crops are grown in many countries throughout the world. 

Table 17.3 Summary of simazine use on US fruit and nut crops, average for the years 2002-2005 ...

Diuron was introduced by du Pont in 1954 (Fig. 3). It is one of a series of substituted urea herbicides. Diuron is applied preemergence to crops such as cotton, alfalfa, grapes, fruit and nut crops. Foliar activity is enhanced when a surfactant is added to the spray. 

Azinphos-methyl is a broad-spectrum nonsystemic insecticide and acaricide commonly used on a number of fruit, vegetable, and nut crops. It is not used in residential and public health pest control. 

Pecans Carya illioensis), either Pih-KAHN or PEE-can, is the most valuable nut crop in the United States ranging from 60.5 million in 1970 to 309 million in 1991. The largest crop was 340,000,000 lbs in shell in 1981. An average year is 250,000,000 in shell lbs, of which 4/5th are marketed as shelled nuts. Texas is the largest producer of native pecans, but Georgia is the overall leader when improved varieties are added. 

Ferguson, L., Kader, A., and Thompson, J., Harvesting, transporting, processing and grading, in Pistachio Production, Ferguson, L., Ed., Center for Fruit and Nut Crop Research and Information, University of California, Davis, CA, 1995, pp. 110-114. 

McGuire RG (1992) Reporting of objective color measurements. Hortscience 27 224-1225 Mehlenbacher SA, Codu V, Hough LF (1983) Apricots (Prunus). In Moore JN, Ballington JR Jr (eds) Genetic resources of temperate fruit and nut crops. International Society for Horticultural Science, Wageningen, pp 65-66 Minolta Camera Co Ltd (1991) Chroma meters. Japan... 

WORLD AND U.S. PRODUCTION. Almonds are the third leading nut crop in the world. Worldwide, about 1.3 million metric tons are produced annually and the leading producing countries, by rank, are United States, Spain, China, Italy, and Iran."... 

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