
By Kyra Fielden – Grower Services Bay of Plenty
HARVESTING
Harvesting is well underway in the Bay of Plenty even with dry matter clearances being a bit random this season due to early harvesting expectations, making the harvest plan turn upside down on a weekly basis.
However, the Just Avocados crew are doing a stellar job at keeping up and making changes where necessary to ensure a smooth and trouble-free harvest.
RAINFALL
Rainfall around harvest is a hot topic in this newsletter – something growers might like to do is have your own rain gauge and record daily rainfall 1-2 weeks leading into your harvest date.
Rainfall throughout the bay can be varied so it pays to know what level of rainfall your particular site is getting and if in doubt carry out a roll test prior to harvest – ask me if you want to know how to do this.
TREE HEALTH
Overall, trees are looking pretty healthy so far but as more stress comes on as flower buds extend, the trees will require an extra boost of nutrients and support.
Foliar feeding can play an important role at this time of year when tree roots might not be working to optimum levels in cold and wet conditions.
To find out how prepared your trees are, we can take leaf samples from your trees and our technical manager, Erica Faber can tailor a three-month foliar programme specific to your orchard or we have a standard prefoliar combination boost we can advise to go in with your next chemical application to support trees.
FUNGAL ACTIVITY
Out and about on orchards over the last few months, growers have been observing various mushrooms popping up underfoot, a sign of fungal activity in the soil or mulch layer. Mushrooms are like the tip on an iceberg in the soil as they are the fruiting bodies of fungi designed to produce spores for reproduction.
I’m writing about fungi because growers are asking ‘What are they called?’, ‘Is it okay to have mushrooms growing under my trees?’.
There are over 100,000 different kinds of fungi known, and many more yet to be discovered.