Groundwater
What do about half the people and half the crops on earth have in common? Their survival depends on groundwater. By Anna Mouton. Only about 2.5% of all water on earth is fresh. About 0.9% is brackish. Everything else is…
Healthy tree, healthy fruit
Monitoring systems for pome and stone fruit. By Anna Mouton. Orchard health is essential to ensuring consistent yields of quality fruit. Growers have to counter the ever-present threat of pests and diseases while meeting phytosanitary requirements from importing countries as…
Heleen Tayler
“I grew up on a farm,” says fruit physiologist Heleen Tayler. “My dad was a medical technologist, and farming was his hobby. We had a Jersey herd and made our own yogurt and butter. But I didn’t want to study…
Honeybees 101
Get to know your top pollinator. By Anna Mouton. What is a honeybee? Bees are a group of about 20 000 species of winged insects that include honeybees, bumblebees, stingless bees, mason bees, carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, and sweat bees. Most…
Hot and bothered
The reasons behind the poor Japanese plum harvest. By Anna Mouton. Add the Japanese plum harvest to the list of disappointments for this year. At least fifteen percent fewer cartons were exported than anticipated given the potential production. Several factors…
How are dosages determined?
We examine the science behind the numbers. By Anna Mouton. Growers know the dosage rates for chemicals because the numbers are provided with the products. But how do scientists evaluate deposition parameters when they are researching ways to optimise spray…
How does Fuji respond to cooling?
A Hortgro-funded study investigated the effect of different cooling strategies on common storage disorders of Fuji apples. By Anna Mouton. Study highlights summarised The main finding of this study is that room cooling is superior to stepwise cooling for Fuji…
How much water do orchards use?
The analysis of water use commissioned by Hortgro provides an interesting perspective on evapotranspiration data for pome and stone fruit. By Anna Mouton. The lead researcher on the project, agrometeorologist Dr Caren Jarmain, collaborated with Dr Nicky Taylor, senior lecturer…
How preharvest PGRs impact postharvest quality
Understanding the relationship between the preharvest application of plant growth regulators (PGRs) and fruit maturity is crucial for optimising storage and avoiding disorders. By Anna Mouton. “What happens on the farm is the most important influence on the postharvest performance…
How to manage orchard zones
Combining information from different imaging systems can help growers achieve more uniform trees and fruit. By Anna Mouton. Variability is the bane of the pome- and stone-fruit grower’s existence. The different soil types of most orchards lead to non-uniform tree…