Plum marbling
What is it and what can be done about it? By Anna Mouton. What is plum marbling? Plum marbling is an infectious disease of Japanese plums caused by plum viroid I. Viroids are small circular strands of RNA — short…
What can COVID-19 teach us about tree health?
Fundamentals of infectious disease in deciduous fruit trees. By Anna Mouton. This has been the year of the amateur epidemiologist. Words like asymptomatic and co-morbidities have become part of everyday language. As they should be — if you are a…
Bud to orchard
Hortgro Science puts the spotlight on plant material. By Anna Mouton. “The quality of plant material has been identified through different initiatives as one of the big failings of our industry,” says Hugh Campbell, general manager at Hortgro Science. He…
The Deciduous Fruit Plant Certification Scheme
Top-performing orchards start with a blue-label investment. By Anna Mouton and Rachel Kriel. What is the Deciduous Fruit Plant Certification Scheme? The Deciduous Fruit Plant Certification Scheme is a voluntary certification programme for plant material. The Scheme is managed by…
To pot or not
Why grow nursery trees in containers? By Anna Mouton. The traditional way to produce a nursery tree is to grow it in a field and lift it during dormancy. The biggest problem with this approach is transplant shock. Root damage…
Get a handle on new trees
It’s not just up to the nurseryman. By Grethe Bestbier. Much can go wrong between the lifting of nursery trees and their establishment in the orchard. Fresh Quarterly spoke to three horticulturists for tips on how careful handling of trees…
Here’s to your tree’s health
Start with pest- and disease-free nursery trees. By Grethe Bestbier. It is vital to establish a new orchard with healthy trees. Pests and diseases pose a threat to young nursery trees and can cause serious damage or even death. Bacteria,…
A strong start
The physical and physiological characteristics of nursery trees. By Grethe Bestbier. How you start something often affects how you finish it, and the importance of a strong start cannot be overstated. In the same way, the physical and physiological characteristics…
Crop protection in the Orchard of the Future
A changing strategy for a changing world. By Marinda Louw Coetzee. Crop protection is changing due to increasingly stringent market requirements for ethical fruit production, as well as due to changes in orchard structure and ecology. The Orchard of the…
Paardekloof
Maximising returns on investment. By Anna Mouton. “To earn more money, you need to put more apples into the export market,” says Willie Kotze, technical adviser with Dutoit Agri. “You’re not going to win by trying to cut costs.” The…