Rethinking Almond Irrigation: Why we should drive growth, not chase drought - A new research
- Phytech Team
- Feb 5
- 2 min read
We're happy to share a significant research paper published in Agricultural Water Management, featuring vital contributions from our very own head of Agronomic Research Ido Gardi here at Phytech.
For decades, the industry has often relied on "reactive" irrigation - applying water only after trees signal stress. This new multi-year study, which monitored 91 almond fields across California, suggests a paradigm shift is needed: Proactive Water Budgeting.
Key Takeaways from the Research:
• Early-Season Criticality: Almond trees begin transpiring vigorously in early spring, far exceeding common irrigation coefficients.
• Don't Wait for Stress: Waiting until May to start irrigation (after soil reserves are exhausted) can permanently limit the tree's future reproductive potential by reducing the growth of reproductive spurs and buds.
• The "Proactive" Approach: By using Phytech’s dendrometers to monitor Maximal Daily Shrinkage (MDS) alongside satellite and metabolic data, the team showed that irrigation should aim for a gradual, monotonic depletion of soil water rather than reacting to acute deficits.
Phytech's dendrometers measure MDS in real-time as represented by the green graph and the color coded map which displays the levels of MDS for each block
Head of Agronomic Reserach at Phytech, Ido Gardi, Ph.d
Kudos to the researchers:
A big thank you and huge kudos to the incredible team of researchers who made this extensive study possible.
• Or Sperling (ARO Volcani, Israel)
• Jessica Orozco, Zachary Ellis, and Maciej A. Zwieniecki (UC Davis, USA)
• Niccolò Tricerri and Francesca Secchi (University of Torino, Italy)
Their work provides a framework that helps growers transition from "replacing lost water" to "securing transpiration" to protect long-term yields.
"At Phytech, we are proud to provide the technology—like the dendrometers used in this study—that enables this kind of data-driven, proactive management.
Check out the full paper here:
Really interesting read—the finding that almond trees are already transpiring vigorously in early spring while standard irrigation coefficients lag behind makes me rethink how we schedule our first water. The scale of the study (91 fields!) gives me confidence it's not just anecdotal. By the way, I keep a supplier of construction wire, tie wire, rebar supports, anchor bolts and temporary fencing for importers and distributors I like to share: https://leeter.cn/products/
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