The first priority before establishing a new block is to commission a soil test.
Soil testing is highly recommended so that any necessary soil amendments can be made before planting.
To maximise vigour and get new trees into production early, there is no substitute for ensuring that the soil status is within the optimum range—before planting.
Benefits of regular testing
In established trees, regular soil testing (about every three years) provides managers with valuable information to predict and monitor the soil status over time.
Testing helps identify any nutritional deficiencies and underlying trends. Early detection of these trends allows managers to plan the necessary course of action, before any major nutritional problems arise, ensuring the soil’s status remains in check with the trees’ requirements.
Soil amendments
Prior to planting is an opportune time to address deficiencies or less than ideal soil characteristics which have been identified in the soil test analysis.
The benefit of applying the necessary soil amendments before planting are that they can be broadcast and incorporated. This is ideal for obtaining a quick result and good distribution of the amendments through the soil profile.
If the soil’s shortcomings are not addressed prior to planting it can still be done after planting, but the benefits of the amendments can take a lot longer to be realised. This is mainly due to the relatively low mobility of the typical soil amendment products such as lime, gypsum and superphosphate.
Fumigation & apple replant disease
Over the years there has been a lot of research into fumigation for apple replant disease.
As the cost of investing in a new block has dramatically increased with high density plantings, orchardists are asking the question, “should I fumigate or not?”
Two concerns with fumigating are:•the high cost per hectare •whether fumigating makes much difference.
In my opinion, as we continue planting more intensive orchard systems, fumigating old orchard ground prior to planting is worth it.
Given a replant situation on an apple orchard, I would factor the cost of fumigating into the total cost of planting a new block.
My reasoning is that growers need to maximise tree growth in years one and two so that the tree structure is there to support good yields in year three and beyond—the longer it takes trees to start yielding good tonnages, the longer it takes for the block to become cash positive.
For more information, see Tree Fruit May 2013
