Growing-season vigour management

October 2013 | John Wilton, AgFirst | Australian Fruitgrower article

John Wilton explains why vigour management is a growing-season task rather than something that can be corrected only with winter pruning.

Excess shoot growth reduces light penetration into the canopy, competes with fruit and can make colour, flower-bud development and spray penetration harder to manage. The objective is not weak trees, but a balanced canopy that converts intercepted light into marketable fruit.

Management starts with crop load, irrigation and nutrition, then uses pruning, training and other vigour-control techniques where necessary. Strong regrowth caused by severe pruning can worsen the original problem, so treatments need to be matched to tree response.

The article encourages growers to assess vigour during the season and act before the canopy becomes dense and difficult to correct.