Application of Waiken gives apple and cherry growers greater control over bud break, flowering and time of maturity.
Depending on when it is applied, it can be used to bring forward, or to delay bud-break.
Generally:
•To advance bud-break, apply 35–50 days before bud-break would normally occur
•To set back bud-break apply from 20 days before bud-break would normally occur, up to the time of green-tip.
How to utilise Waiken in the orchard
Waiken induces a period of dormancy after which the flowers all come out fairly rapidly and uniformly. This means it can be used as a management tool to:
•bring forward or set back bud-break to help align flowering across varieties to achieve cross pollination
•bring forward or set back bud-break to stagger maturity to improve productivity at maturity and harvesting
•compact the flowering period to significantly improve the effect of chemical thinning treatments and improve productivity at picking
•promote limb growth in young fruit trees.
Thanks to its proprietary chemistry, Waiken allows growers to capitalise on the more profitable early markets.
Non toxic
Tools available for manipulating bud break include common chemical rest-breaking agents such as hydrogen cyanamide, which is toxic. Waiken is an emulsified vegetable oil compound.
Tips to improve effectiveness
•Fruit trees have a cyclic crop load from year to year: heavy, light, heavy etc. Waiken compacts flowering, so care needs to be taken if using primary thinners when a light crop is expected. An application of primary thinners such as NAA, Ethrel or ATS in this situation could severely limit fruit set and crop load. Secondary thinners such as Cylex are a safer alternative as the decision to thin is made later, when fruit set is visible.
•Ensure that sufficient pollinators and bees are available. This is very important as a reduced flowering period could result in reduced fruit set if the weather is unfavourable during this time.
•In the first year, carry out limited trials. Apply Waiken at two different timings and two rates. This provides important information to enable optimum timing and rate for subsequent seasons.
•Recommended rate is 4% on apples and cherries. Water volume should be sufficient to obtain good coverage of the buds to the point of run-off. This generally requires 1000–2000 L/ha water for apples and cherries.
Contact Martyn Jones at SST:
P 03 9720 6306 M 0410 491 485
www.sstaustralia.com
See this article in Tree Fruit June 2018
