Fruit growth monitoring

November 2010 | Presented by Chris Peters | Future Orchards® fruit growth monitoring presentation

This Future Orchards® presentation focuses on using repeated fruit measurements to track whether a block is progressing towards its target fruit size. Rather than waiting until harvest to discover that fruit is too small or uneven, fruit growth monitoring gives growers an in-season signal that can be compared with expected growth curves.

The approach involves tagging representative fruit, measuring them at regular intervals and comparing actual growth with the target line for the desired market size. When growth falls behind, the orchard team can review crop load, irrigation, nutrition and other factors that may be restricting fruit development.

Used consistently across seasons, fruit-growth records also build a block history that improves future crop-load decisions. The presentation complements the wider Future Orchards® emphasis on measurable targets, objective monitoring and timely correction of performance problems.