Western Australian apple growers attending a recent Future Orchards® event in Manjimup have benefited from the key findings of two years of Focus Orchards research.
Future Orchards® is a national program funded by Horticulture Australia Ltd (HAL) and managed by Apple and Pear Australia Ltd (APAL).
Department of Agriculture and Food development officer Rachelle Johnstone said the department and Fruit West had assisted APAL with delivery of the Future Orchards program in Western Australia since it began in 2006.
“The purpose of the orchard walk in Manjimup was to share key program outcomes that will help boost fruit quality, productivity, and profitability for individual growers and the broader industry,” Ms Johnstone said.
“Based on the outcomes of the program’s research from 2012 to 2014, Ross Wilson from AgFirst NZ advised that it’s achievable to produce 100t/ha of high quality fruit in WA,” she said.
“He said consistency over the entire row length and across blocks was vital to achieving higher yields, and suggested the canopy should be full of low vigour, calm fruiting units, each in their own space.
“In most Australian growing environments, netting is critical to achieving sustainable high yields. It prevents hail damage and minimises the negative effects of heat stress, sunburn and bird damage.”
Ms Johnstone said other recommendations from the day included implementing crop load management strategies as soon as possible to achieve optimum fruit numbers and completing hand-thinning by Christmas.
Winter pruning and chemical thinning were suggested to achieve 80 per cent of the job.
The importance of carefully balanced water and nutrition was also covered, with a reminder that excess water and nutrition were as harmful as inadequate applications.
Ms Johnstone presented results from the department’s trial at the local Focus Orchard, Newton Orchards in Manjimup, which outlined the importance of managing nutrition and irrigation to ensure optimum growth in young orchards
Future Orchards provides apple and pear growers Australia-wide with practical, hands-on education and tools to help increase quality and productivity in their orchards and assist the industry in becoming internationally competitive.
The department’s Manjimup Horticultural Research Institute hosted presentations, which were followed by an orchard walk at Fontanini’s Fruit and Nut Farm in Manjimup.
Orchard walk presentations are available on the APAL website at apal.org.au. They can be searched by topic and/or date.
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