Pistachios And Navel Orangeworm Sanitation

Finding a better way to destroy pistachio mummy nuts for navel orange worm control.

Joel Siegel is an entomologist working for the USDA ARS office in Parlier, Southeast of Fresno. He's been focused on controlling navel orangeworm, the number one pest in almonds and pistachios for decades. And he noted that pistachios can definitely be a tough nut to crack.

“It's a combination of historically pistachios have always been harder to sanitize than almonds because it's the issue of what to do with the shell,” noted Siegel. “They're harder. You can't smash with the pistachios the same way you can with the almonds. So what people have been looking at, is coming up with new machines to shred up the mummies.

This is something that pistachio growers have long awaited. “So for example, I know that Wonderful Farming, an operation in Kern County, has worked on shredding machine for a decade, but I'm not quite sure where they currently stand with their program, but Nichols Farms and they're a farming operation in Kings County, has worked with a manufacturing group and as a joint venture and they have a mummy shredding machine.

And we definitely look forward to seeing that machine in the near future.