The latest results from a three-year Hortgro-funded investigation of effective pollination period in Japanese plums. By Anna Mouton. Export cartons per hectare drive the profitability of Japanese plum orchards. The first step in filling those cartons is to have a…
Can plums tolerate higher CO2 levels during shipping? By Kyra-Kay Rensburg. The current reefer container-vent setting of 15 m3 per hour for stone fruit aims to prevent CO2 build-up but exacerbates moisture loss. Closing the vents could increase relative humidity…
What is the window of opportunity for pollination of popular Japanese plum cultivars? By Anna Mouton. Japanese plums account for about 10% of hectares planted to pome and stone fruit in South Africa. Despite setbacks ranging from severe droughts to…
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…
What is it and what can be done about it? By Anna Mouton. What is plum marbling? Plum marbling is an infectious disease of Japanese plums caused by plum viroid I. Viroids are small circular strands of RNA — short…