If everything “went right”, orchardists would produce high yields of fruit with the best marketable features and receive maximum return from their business every year.
Many of the factors that place limits on yield being realized are outside of our control. In fact most of them come from the environment, especially the weather conditions.
We cannot control rainfall, disease pressure and temperature despite the huge impact that these factors have.
Because we cannot control everything, we need to take care of the things within our control.
When it comes to Stoller, the focus is mainly on nutrients and what can be done to keep the plant in balance. A tree has a certain genetic potential to perform and every day from budburst onwards, things happen to prevent the full potential being realized.
Observe what’s happening in the orchard
The leaves are often a tell-tale for nutrient deficiency. The younger leaves can show up zinc, manganese and iron deficiency. The old leaves can show potassium and magnesium deficiency symptoms.
Each deficiency has its own pattern of leaf size shape and discolouration.
Learning to observe these symptoms early can reduce lost performance of the trees.
There are many books that show what these symptoms look like and experienced advisors who can also help.
Stoller and other extension services publish a range of nutrient deficiency guides.
Soil and Tissue testing is another useful tool and can help farmers identify issues in their orchard that can be remedied through application of the right nutrients and fertilisers.
The Stoller Group has taken crop health one step further by identifying physiological cycles in plants and understanding which hormones are up regulated at different growth stages such as vegetative stage, reproductive stage and maturity and ripening stage. Each crop stage requires a different management approach, different nutrient inputs and different monitoring.
Look for things under the surface
Stoller has a philosophy that the roots are the ‘brains of the plant’. They control nutrient uptake, signalling any hormone balancing.
Dysfunctional roots will lead to poor crop performance. Remember to dig into the root zone and look for freshly growing, new white root hairs. This is the signal of a healthy tree.
Next season
As the season advances we are also influencing what will happen next year. The buds for next year are forming now and the nutrients that will be required for spring growth need to be available for storage.
Elements, for example zinc and nitrogen, are required early.
Inadequate nitrogen will lead to poor vegetative growth and yellow leaves. Too much N is also a problem. A balance is needed.
Zinc is needed early and the most obvious symptom of low zinc is small leaves. Without zinc the leaves will stay small.
All the other elements are just as important, it only takes one limiting factor to hold back tree performance.
Stoller agronomists will be happy to assist and review tree health and performance, getting the right supply and balance of nutrients at the right time, ensuring that limiting nutritional factors are minimized; and they will look at strategies for improving root health.
Influencing tree performance
Many of the biggest influencers of tree performance are outside our control. However, let’s take responsibility for what we can change.
•Observe the trees, including leaves and roots
•Measure nutrient levels in soil and leaf tissue
•Follow input programs that are tailored to the different crop stages
•Take steps to set-up the tree for next season.
Stoller Australia is a research based company that has a sound understanding of plant nutrition and requirements for healthy crop growth.
More recently Stoller has been investigating the role of nutrients and various nutrient co-factors in taking crops to the next level by capturing more of the plant’s genetic potential. Areas of interest include:
•Reducing biennial bearing
•Improving pollination in fluctuating temperatures
•Building more root mass to help plants through stress
•Designing stress recovery treatments including the proven frost recovery program
•Lessening the impact of salty soils
•Accelerating and delaying ripening to adjust for climate and market requirements.
See this article in Tree Fruit Oct 2016
