Mid North orchard 1

Most positive influence on orchard performance

  • Pruning has had best outcome on orchard.

Most negative influence on orchard performance

  • Pack out is lower than would like. Mix of wind and insect.

General management

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

Canopy management

  • Hass on Zutano 14m X 14m
  • Hass on Dusa 7m X 7m
  • Managed as individuals in grid
  • Max height of trees is 7m
  • Light interception is the highest priority when pruning followed by structural tree balance, increasing access for picking and spraying, management of crop load and removal of dead or diseased material.
  • Trees are pruned once a year in Autumn.
  • About 15% of the canopy is removed each year.
  • Flower or fruitlet pruning is not carried out.

Soil and soil moisture management

  • Orchard is predominately silty clay loam
  • Leaf litter and avocado pruning are used to mulch trees.
  • Soil moisture is not monitored.
  • The orchard is fully irrigated with ground based micro sprinklers.
  • At peak summer it is common to irrigate for 4 hours per irrigation event once a week using 2 sprinklers per tree with a 2m throw that deliver 70l/hr (mm per irrigation event)
  • All trees have the same sprinkler heads and number of sprinklers. Young sprinkler has 1 sprinkler and older ones have 2. Young trees 2 hour of irrigation
  • Condition of pipework including mainlines, sub-mains and lateral pipework is inspected at least annually.

Pollination

  • Pollinizer species include Bacon and Zutano, at a percentage of more than 50 polleniser 43 Zutano and 7 Bacon of total trees.
  • Honey bee hives are brought onto the orchard before flowering at a rate of 3-4 hives per hectare. Hives are located evenly through block. 4 blocks 3 hives in each

Soil and fertiliser application

  • Soil and leaf tests are carried out once a year in April/May.
  • A consultant provided a fertiliser plan based on test results and crop loading.
  • The majority of fertiliser is applied by ground application but foliar application is also used.
  • Boron fertilisers are applied as ground application and foliar every year.
  • Calcium fertiliser is applied when deficient as a ground application.
  • Fertiliser in some form is applied 12 times a year.

Tree health management

  • Trees are injected once a year with phosphonate in autumn with no root testing carried out.

Frost protection

  • No frost protection is in place in the orchard.