WCAHS Researcher Improves Almond Orchard Soil with Biosolarization
WCAHS investigator Dr. Chris Simmons is helping Chico based almond grower Rory Crowley improve his orchard's health with biosolarization, an alternative to toxic soil fumigation.
Crowley mixed left-over almond hulls and shells into the soil, irrigated it, and covered it with a plastic tarp for 6 weeks. The combination of the trapped heat from the sun and byproducts from soil microbes created "beautiful soil" that can now be planted with new trees.