Bay of Plenty orchard 4

General management

  • Pollination, fertiliser planning, pest monitoring and spraying are contracted out. Remainder of work is completed by owners.

Canopy management

  • Tree spaced 7m X 7m
  • Trees are managed as individuals
  • Max height of trees in 10m
  • Light interception is the highest priority when pruning followed by access for picking and spraying, crop load management, structural tree balance and removal of dead or diseased material.
  • Trees are structurally pruned once a year in autumn with an estimated average of 25% of the canopy removed each year.

Soil and soil moisture management

  • Orchard is predominately sandy loam.
  • Leaf litter and avocado pruning are used to mulch trees.
  • Soil moisture is not monitored on the orchard and does not have irrigation.

Pollination

  • Pollinizer species include Bacon and Zutano at a percentage of 5-7%
  • Honey bee hives are brought onto the orchard at 5-10% flowering at a rate of 8-10 hives per hectare. Hives are located in the middle of orchard as there is an open clearing.

Soil and fertiliser application

  • Soil and leaf tests are carried out once a year in April.
  • A consultant provided a fertiliser plan based on test results and crop loading.
  • Both ground and foliar applications are used to add fertiliser with ground application being more common.
  • Boron fertilisers are applied as ground and foliar applications every year.
  • Calcium fertiliser is applied as a ground application when levels are deficient.
  • Fertiliser in some form is applied 8 times a year.

Tree health management

  • Trees are injected once a year with phosphonate in autumn with no root testing done to verify root concentrations.

Frost protection

  • No frost protection is in place in the orchard.