Orchard trials shape future management strategies

30 July 2014 | Richard Pentreath and Kevin Manning, AgFirst | Australian Fruitgrower article

This article reviews lessons from more than 25 Future Orchards® trials carried out over two seasons. The trials were developed jointly by growers, front-line advisers and consultants to test practical management strategies in commercial orchards and give growers physical evidence before changing established practices.

Among the young-tree findings, the article reports that poor replant preparation could not be corrected later simply with nutritional amendments, chloropicrin outperformed Basamid in one fumigation comparison, and GA3 improved extension growth and canopy development in young Kanzi® trees. Crop-load trials also showed how fruiting demand can alter leader extension and fruit quality.

For mature trees, the review highlights timing-sensitive responses to Regalis®, useful effects from root pruning, and a combined summer NAA plus root-pruning treatment that reduced biennial bearing in Fuji. In that example, treated trees yielded 53.8 t/ha compared with 36.9 t/ha in untreated trees after a 50 t/ha crop the previous season. The article stresses that demonstration trials are commercially realistic but not always fully replicated scientific experiments.