Growing apples where (and when) it is too warm

July 2024 | Presented by Dr Nigel Cook, Prophyta, South Africa | Future Orchards® presentation

Dr Nigel Cook draws on South African experience to explain how inadequate winter chill changes apple dormancy, budbreak, branching and orchard performance. The presentation compares production environments including the Eastern Free State, Langkloof, Ceres and Elgin with Australian conditions such as Shepparton.

Low-chill conditions can delay and desynchronise foliation and flowering, weaken acrotonic branching and increase the role of paradormancy in lateral buds. The presentation explains different dormancy patterns observed under cold, intermediate and warm conditions and why orchard management needs to account for the way buds enter and leave dormancy.

Cook also discusses practical responses, including cold storage of nursery trees. Two months of cold storage can provide around 1500 chill units and may allow newly planted trees to establish without rest-breaking agents. The presentation then connects dormancy management with budburst, canopy establishment and the architecture needed for productive orchards in warm regions.

The resource gives Australian growers a physiological framework for thinking about winter chill, dormancy breakers and orchard design as warming conditions make traditional assumptions about budbreak and flowering less reliable.