Pollination and fertiliser planning is contracted out. Remainder of work is completed by owners.
A weather station in on-orchard with rainfall, temperature and wind used to inform orchard practices.
Canopy management
Tree spaced 8.5m X 8.5m
Managed as individual trees
Max height of trees in 7.5m
Light interception is the main priority when pruning followed by access for picking and spraying, structural tree balance, crop load management and removal of dead or diseased material.
Trees are structurally pruned once a year in spring ideally but will wait until autumn if harvest forces delay.
An average of 25% of the canopy is removed each year.
Flower pruning is used on excessively flowering trees and fruit thinning may also be carried out if needed.
Soil and soil moisture management
Orchard is predominately clay loam soil.
Leaf litter, avocado pruning and shelter pruning are all used to mulch trees.
Soil moisture is monitored using capacitance probe. Irrigation is triggered when the 0-15cm reading shows 30% moisture.
The orchard is fully irrigated with ground based micro sprinklers mounted on 1.2m poles.
At peak summer it is common to irrigate for 12 hours per irrigation event once a week using sprinklers with a 6m diameter that deliver 40l/hr (17mm per irrigation event)
Sprinkler heads are chosen based on soil type, tree size and age, health and variety/cultivar.
Pump pressure and flow characteristics along with control valves are checked annually with ongoing inspection of pipework on orchard.
Pollination
Pollinizer species include Bacon, Ettinger, Zutano, Fuerte and Edranol at a percentage of 1-5%
Hives are brought onto the orchard at 5-10% flowering at a rate of 3-4 hives per hectare. Hives are located centrally in orchard to capture sun.
Soil and fertiliser application
Soil and leaf tests are carried out once a year in March.
A consultant provides a fertiliser plan based on test results and crop loading.
Both ground and foliar application of fertiliser is used.
Boron fertilisers are applied as ground and foliar application when deficient.
Calcium fertiliser is applied every year as a ground application.
8 solid fertiliser applications and 6 foliar applications are generally made a year.
Tree health management
Only sick trees are injected but every tree has foliar application of phosphonate in autumn. No root testing of phosphonate levels is carried out.
