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…
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…
Plant-parasitic nematodes in orchards
Have you noticed a decline in your yields without a clear explanation? Experts warn that it could be due to plant-parasitic nematodes. By Jorisna Bonthuys. Each handful of soil contains hundreds of nematodes, most of which are so small that…
Cover crops in orchards
It takes an ecosystem to grow a tree. By Anna Mouton. We humans often describe a clean floor as one you can eat off. But a clean orchard floor starves soil organisms. Cover crops can boost diversity both above and…
Soil health in Washington State
Q+A with Tianna DuPont. By Anna Mouton. The United States is the second largest apple-producing country — total production in 2020 was 5.1 million tonnes. Seventy percent of these apples come from Washington State. Fresh Quarterly spoke to Tianna DuPont,…
New study on water needs of pears
Good news for the pear industry – a project to quantify the water requirements of high-performing pear orchards has been approved for funding by the Water Research Commission. By Engela Duvenage. The project is set to begin in April 2022,…
Low-flow drip irrigation in apples
A new Hortgro-funded study compares tree performance and root development in low- and ultra-low-flow drip-irrigated apples. By Engela Duvenage. Continuous low-flow drip irrigation is being used with great success by the South African citrus industry. A Hortgro-funded project launched in…
Dwarfing rootstocks and water stress
Promising preliminary results from a Hortgro-funded study show that dwarfing rootstocks are not more susceptible to water stress than conventional rootstocks. By Engela Duvenage. Initial findings from a three-year study run counter to the views of some producers that dwarfing…
Be realistic about water savings under nets
Nets protect apples from sun, hail, sleet, and wind. But do they reduce water use? Preliminary data suggests yes, but less than elsewhere in the world. By Engela Duvenage. Hortgro is co-funding a project with the Water Research Commission to…
Orchard water use relates to leaf area
Control vegetative growth to improve the water-use efficiency of apple orchards. By Engela Duvenage. This is one of the conclusions in a recent report by a team of researchers from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Agricultural Research…