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There are two main ant pests in almonds: the pavement ant (pictured) and the southern fire ant (photos by Jack Kelly Clark,<br />
UC Statewide IPM Program.)<br />
tion in the field with a later treatment,<br />
whereas most treatments that are done<br />
in May and June are done on more<br />
of a presence/absence preventative<br />
approach, which works and is very<br />
effective. But in hindsight, all of those<br />
fields may not have needed treatment,”<br />
Haviland said.<br />
If growers have the manpower and<br />
the ability to make a late application,<br />
they could save money using Altrevin<br />
because they might not need to make<br />
an application, depending on ant populations.<br />
To maintain bait quality and maximize<br />
bait pickup by ants:<br />
Don’t use baits within 24 hours<br />
after an irrigation or 48 hours before<br />
an irrigation with sprinklers or microsprinklers.<br />
The soil surface should<br />
be dry so that moisture is not absorbed<br />
by the bait and reduce its attractiveness<br />
to the ants.<br />
Use bait products soon after opening<br />
and do not store bait for more than<br />
a few weeks. Open bags should be used<br />
within a week or two so that the soybean<br />
oil does not become rancid and be<br />
less attractive to ants.<br />
Purchase only as much bait as can<br />
be used in the current season.<br />
Monitoring<br />
Monitoring is always advised, but at<br />
the same time, thresholds can be difficult<br />
to interpret, Haviland said.<br />
“Imagine if you harvest a field and<br />
you get the nuts out within three days,<br />
versus harvest the same field, on the<br />
same day, but it takes you 10 days to<br />
remove the nuts. That’s the difference<br />
between ants being a problem or not,”<br />
Haviland said.<br />
Treatment isn’t solely dependent on<br />
how many ants there are; it’s also dependent<br />
on the details of harvest, how<br />
much equipment a grower has and how<br />
long the nuts are on the ground.<br />
“Sometimes those details aren’t<br />
available until real time. In May, you<br />
don’t know if it’s going be sunny or<br />
whether a cool rainstorm will come in<br />
the middle of harvest. That’s not common,<br />
but still, you don’t know what the<br />
weather is going to be until the week<br />
of the weather,” Haviland said, and if<br />
yields are higher than expected, it can<br />
impact how much time it takes to get<br />
the nuts out of the field.<br />
There are ant monitoring guidelines<br />
available on the UC IPM website at<br />
www2.ipm.ucanr.edu/agriculture/almond/Ants/.<br />
Comments about this article? We want<br />
to hear from you. Feel free to email us at<br />
article@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
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