Those who have walked through Forada, Pla de Corona, Benimussa or Pla de Sant Antoni this weekend will have found an unusual scene: the almond trees are loaded with new shoots. Even in the vicinity of Santa Agnès, some of them (not many, like the shown in this article) have flowers and numerous new leaves have just emerged. It is an unusual sight, since the flowering of these trees does not occur until late January or early February, at which time the buds begin to appear.
“It is not right”, says Iván Colomar, farmer and president of Agroeivissa. “The weather confuses them”, comments Juan Antonio Prats, manager of the Sant Antoni cooperative. “They are stressed,” adds Josep Lluís Joan, doctor in agricultural engineering and technician for the Promotion of Agrifood Quality of the Consell de Ibiza: “Right now there are many fruit trees that have gone crazy,” adds Joan. The reason? The climate: “They have suffered intense stress during the summer, very very intense due to the heat. And suddenly they receive a lot of water [the rains of mid-September and early October] and, in addition, instead of the temperatures going down, they are going up,” details the technician of the insular institution. “It is normal -he explains- that they resprout after the September rains, something that even happens with the vines. It wakes them up and they are temporarily revitalized. But then they become lethargic when the cold weather arrives. What is happening now is that the rains have been followed by very warm weather. The message they’ve received is that it’s spring, not fall. Their natural cycle has changed. The thermometer reached 31 degrees yesterday in Forada.
“The message the almond trees have received is that it is spring, not autumn. Their natural cycle has changed”
The almond trees are “altered, because their way of feeling the environment is through temperatures. Instead of getting cold, as should happen at this time of year, they receive warm temperatures that send them the signal that instead of winter, they are heading towards spring”. And they go crazy .
This phenomenon usually occurs, says Joan, “in trees that are aged or sick, whose cycles are easily altered. It is their unique swan song, their last effort. And the same thing is happening in “some orange trees, even though the orange blossom comes out in May. Everything is a bit crazy due to the stress suffered by the plants. It has been a very intense summer, with very high temperatures for a long time. That has stressed them. Now there are even asparagus, which usually come out in February or March: “It’s the same for them,” says Joan, “they are confused with this weather”.
“It gets worn out”
“Everything is out of whack”, thinks Alicia Morales, agricultural engineer of the Cooperative of Sant Antoni. The fact that at the end of October there are so many bushy almond trees with newly sprouted leaves “is due to the change of temperatures in their cycle. After a period of stress, as it is not cold and there is no water available, the almond tree believes that it is time to sprout again”, explains the engineer.
“Now, the almond tree should be resting and stocking up, but instead it is wearing itself out, so it will probably have less strength and energy to flower and sprout as it did before.”
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.