Stoller recently held a national technical meeting in Adelaide where growers, resellers, consultants and staff congregated to hear presentations from the Stoller international and Australian technical teams, and to celebrate Stoller Australia’s 20th birthday.
The international speakers were specialist managers from Stoller USA, Argentina, Turkey and Canada.
Australian General Manager, Richard Emery opened the meeting with an overview of Stoller Australia’s activities and progress over the past 20 years.
Stoller is an international agricultural company that has been operating for more than 45 years.
Key messages
The key message from the meeting was that it is important to minimise the loss of yield potential by supplying all needed inputs early in the crop’s life. Also:
- Stoller’s Action 5 was shown to be a very efficient starter treatment which can ensure strong root development and a robust plant
- Stoller’s Bio-Forge can reduce the losses caused by environmental stresses
- The use of products such as Sugar Mover can ensure that bulking is enhanced by making sure the food moves to the areas of need in the plant.
Using Action 5 to get things started
The speakers discussed Action 5 which is a specialty calcium treatment (with co-factors) that is usually applied to the soil.
The result is a more active root system and better root development even when soil temperatures are low. This also applies to the tree at pollination time.
Dr Yilmaz from Stoller Turkey showed that various specialty calcium–containing products from Stoller, applied prior to flowering can help the activity and viability of flowers to enhance pollination—even when temperatures were not ideal.
It was also demonstrated that higher calcium levels are required for cell strength and pollen tube development.
Products like Action 5 are best applied early in the season when the trees will gain the most from improved root activity.
Bio-Forge to manage stress
Bio-Forge came up in most presentations and the speakers explained how it works as a stress release product.
When trees undergo stress, a hormone called ethylene builds up in the plant and needs to be controlled in order for fast restoration of normal growth.
This is where Bio-Forge comes in and purges the excess ethylene from the plant cells.
It can assist after frost, after herbicide damage or at any time when the tree is stressed.
Use of zinc in combination with Bio-Forge is always recommended. Treatments should be made soon after the stress and a low rate of 1.2 litres per hectare is sufficient.
Sugar Mover ensures proper transfer of carbohydrates
Sugar Mover is a nutrient product from Stoller that helps ensure that sugars move from the growing tip to the areas of need (often the developing fruit).
A treatment of Sugar Mover helps prevent all the energy from going into vegetation.
Trials with gene testing showed that:
- use of Sugar Mover increased sugar production in the plant
- movement of sugar in the plant was enhanced and the strength of the sink (e.g. the pull from developing fruit) is enhanced.
Sugar Mover is applied at times when sugar transfer to fruit is desirable (during sizing). It is also applied on biennial trees in summer to reduce the chance of season highs and lows in fruit production in subsequent seasons (this is done by enhancing the strength of next year’s buds).
For more information, see Tree Fruit August 2015
