A new research project explores how temperature influences apple size from bud development to harvest. By Ilyaas Rhoda. Fruit size remains an important factor in apple production, directly influencing market value, export potential, and overall profitability. Although growers rely on…
Why is there so much variability? By Anna Mouton. Inconsistent fruit quality and ripening is the bane of apple growers everywhere. How is one supposed to harvest at optimum maturity when there is so much variation on the same tree?…
Researchers aim to understand how the interaction of genetics and environment drives tree performance. By Anna Mouton. An eight-year Hortgro-funded project in collaboration with Stellenbosch University and independent cultivar-evaluation company Provar is untangling the factors driving adaptability and stability in…
Rest-breaking agents are indispensable in mild winter regions, but their limitations must be heeded. By Jenny Underhill. Deciduous fruit trees evolved in Northern-hemisphere regions with very cold winters. These trees naturally go dormant at the onset of cold weather as…
Dr Esmé Louw was born in the Langkloof but grew up in sugarcane country in Empangeni. She went to Tuks where she majored in microbiology and biochemistry. “I’ve always had a love for animals,” says Louw. “I went to the…
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…
The effect of extended bloom period on fruit quality. By Grethe Bestbier. “I don’t have to explain to this audience the challenges of trying to farm apples with mixed maturity,” said Dr Esmé Louw from the Department of Horticultural Science…
Developing a South African phenophase-temperature database. By Anna Mouton. A need to better understand seasonal temperatures and bud break in pome and stone fruit has inspired a new project that aims to establish a phenophase-temperature database. The project is jointly…
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…