Tonnes are not enough — growers must focus on boosting Class 1 pack-outs. By Anna Mouton. Technical adviser Willie Kotze of Dutoit Agri thinks that apple producers are leaving money on the table by not optimising fruit quality. He believes…
Grain chinch bugs — Macchiademus diplopterus — are indigenous to the wheat-growing areas of the Western Cape. They are pests of cereals but also cause problems for fruit exporters. By Engela Duvenage. “Ironically, they do not damage fruit at all,…
Hortgro establishes a new phytosanitary laboratory to support market access. By Engela Duvenage. On 14 February 2022, the South African pome- and stone-fruit industry felt some love when construction began on the Phytosanitary Laboratory — PHYLA — in Stellenbosch. The…
Whereas spotted-wing drosophila is the black sheep of an otherwise blameless family, the peach fruit fly is one of the Mafiosi of the insect world. By Anna Mouton. The peach fruit fly — Bactrocera zonata — shares a genus with…
Larvae of the light brown apple moth eat pretty much anything — this is never a good sign in a pest. By Anna Mouton. The light brown apple moth — Epiphyas postvittana — is a leaf-roller moth in the well-known…
What do growers, chocolate lovers, car manufacturers, and homeowners have in common? Hostility to brown marmorated stink bugs. By Anna Mouton. The brown marmorated stink bug — Halyomorpha halys — is a pentatomid bug. Familiar pentatomids include antestia — Antestiopsis…
A single outbreak of fire blight in Michigan led to the death of 220 000 apple trees and estimated losses of USD 42 million in 2000. This is not a disease we want in South Africa. By Anna Mouton. Fire…
Most drosophila fruit flies hang around overripe or rotting fruit. But the spotted-wing drosophila prefers to raise its offspring on fresh fruit. By Anna Mouton. Almost everyone is familiar with fruit flies in the genus Drosophila — they are those…
Ensuring that South African growers can send their fruit to international markets is a full-time job. By Anna Mouton. Lindi Benić is the joint market-access manager for Hortgro and SATI — the South African Table Grape Industry. Market access involves…
South African fruit must meet phytosanitary requirements to access certain key markets. How are these determined?