Pruning Makako almond trees

In late December and early January, during some of the coldest days of the year, we carry out the pruning of our almond trees, as described below. These are tasks that we perform in our spare time left by our main crops, which are cereals and pulse vegetables. Moreover, this is the ideal time of year, as the trees are about to start blossoming and the work that follows involves applying plant protection treatments to take care of them. Almond trees are pruned twice a year. The work described here corresponds to winter pruning, while the second pruning (spring pruning) will be discussed in due course.

Regarding pruning, we apply two types of training pruning, as we have Makako almond trees planted in 2023 and 2024. For the younger trees, pruning is simple: all branches are removed and the main trunk is cut back to the height where we want the crown to form. From that cut, the tree will sprout and start producing new branches. This will become the first tier or set of main branches. Usually, three main branches are formed, although in some cases we have left a few more.

As for the trees planted in 2023, they are now more established. Pruning is still focused on shaping the tree, but the aim is to determine where the second tier will be formed. As you know, almond trees sprout where the branch is cut. New branches grow from that point, forming the next tier. As shown in the video, the idea is to leave a branch about 40 cm long and then cut it. In this way, the tree gradually develops the desired structure.

Versión en español.

New Makako-GF677 almond plantation

Once again, we will analyze different plantations and crops, focusing on woody crops to the detriment of cereals and pulse vegetables. It is true that our favorite woody crop is the olive grove, but, on this occasion, we have chosen the almond tree in order to diversify our farm . We have evaluated different plantation options and we have deduced that the field for this plantation is more favorable for almond trees. So, we are already involved in the cultivation of almond trees and even thinking that if these trees are doing well this year, we probably will expand our farm with more almond plants next year. 

The garden center where we always buy the plant, Viveros Casilla de Bayo, recommended planting the Makako variety, which is an extra late flowering variety (it will flower about 15 days later than usual). The rootstock we used was GF677. The hybrid GF677 has a medium tolerance to root asphyxia and drought, which is well adapted to chalky soils, it tolerates iron chlorosis, but it is a nematode sensitive rootstock. It confers high vigor. Therefore, we have followed the recommendations that Horacio (owner of the nursery) has made to us. 

Another decision to be taken was the planting frame. Our friend Juan, from Almendras Aljemí, encouraged us to plant in a frame of 7x6 meters in order to have a few more trees per hectare. Horacio also noted that he likes this planting frame for the almond tree and, in particular, for Makako as this variety does not involve a very bulky tree. But speaking to other farmers in our area, they all indicated that a 7x7 meter frame would be the best to be able to work without problems... so the definitive planting frame selected has been 7x7 meters. 

We are going to show you the evolution of the almond trees and we are sure that we will learn new things as the trees grow and share them with you.

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Harvesting almond trees

Earlier this month we met our friends from the company Sisante Agrícola to see them harvesting almond trees. So, we went to in San Clemente (Cuenca), where they were working with one of their two Fendt they have working on the almond harvest with the Solano-Horizonte umbrella. 

Sisante Agrícola is a company located in Sisante (Cuenca), which is mainly engaged in the sale of fertilizers and phytosanitary products. In recent years, they have also provided agricultural work to other farmers in direct seeding with the Fendt 716 and Fendt 313, crop protection work with the Unimog and harvesting work on almonds, pistachio and olive groves with the two Solano-Horizonte umbrellas. 

We spent a morning in the field with our friend Shawn (from California, USA) along with the tractor driver of the Pyti in San Clemente. We all had a great time watching how the Fendt 716 and the Solano-Horizonte umbrella worked in a Guara almond plantation with a very narrow planting frame (6x5,5 meters). The truth is that we were very surprised by the great mobility of the tractor among so many almond trees, and the smoothness it had even when working at a constant engine speed (1,500 rpm). Without any doubt, Pyti's great experience makes the tractor work very well. According to Pyti, they can harvest around 100 almond trees per hour, so they are not standing still.

Versión en español.