Bokveldskloof
Work smarter, not harder. By Anna Mouton. “We have to improve the colour of our fruit,” says Hendrik Pohl, production manager at Bokveldskloof in Ceres. “And we have to increase our percentage class 1 fruit on the tree. We’re not…
Apple-growing in Australia
Fifteen years of the Future Orchards project. By Anna Mouton. The Future Orchards project was launched in 2006 to help Australian apple and pear growers improve orchard productivity and fruit quality. Fifteen years on, Fresh Quarterly spoke to apple grower…
Fundamentals of fumigation
Soil fumigation is the standard control measure for apple replant disease in South Africa. By Anna Mouton. Fumigation is tightly regulated, as incorrect practices pose a safety risk, and growers have to employ one of the several licensed contractors to…
Alternative control of apple replant disease
Is fumigation the only option? By Anna Mouton. Apple orchards have a limited lifespan, and sites for apple orchards are finite, so new apple orchards are regularly established where old ones have been removed. These new orchards are at risk…
The pot test
By Anna Mouton. One of the challenges of apple replant disease is identifying which soils are affected. “We’ve learnt the hard way that not all replanted soils will have severe replant disease, which is problematic for evaluating the efficacy of…
The basics of apple replant disease
Apple replant disease impacts growers in all major apple-producing countries. Fresh Quarterly spoke with Prof. Adéle McLeod of the Department of Plant Pathology at Stellenbosch University about apple replant disease in South Africa. By Anna Mouton. What is replant disease?…
Predicting bud-break
Do chill units tell us anything? By Anna Mouton. The idea behind chill models is to figure out what trees will do in spring. Will they wake up smartly and crack on with flowering? Or will they linger over bud-break…
The fundamental flaws of chill models
The fundamental flaws of chill models Why they don’t work well in South Africa. By Anna Mouton. Chill models matter — their outputs have real-life implications. Growers in areas with mild winters depend on chill models for the management of…
Know your chill models
The challenges of calculating chill. By Anna Mouton. The amount of winter chill a deciduous fruit tree receives will affect how it wakes up in spring. Insufficient chill results in trees that linger over flowering and foliation — growers will…
Winter dormancy 101
How it works and why it matters. By Anna Mouton. The ancestors of the apples we grow today probably came from some freezing mountain on the borders of Kazakhstan — not from the Garden of Eden. These trees evolved winter…