grant thorp - orchard and canopy management (integrated orchard management)

Orchard and canopy management (Integrated Orchard Management)Prepared by: Dr Grant Thorp

Title: Macadamia canopy management - a fresh perspective on our opportunities

Date: Thursday 16 October 2014

Macadamia canopy management ... a fresh perspective on our opportunities

Dr Grant Thorp

Plant & Food Research Australia Pty Ltd

Key points from review:

1. Challenges facing macadamia are typical for an under developed horticultural crop

2. Growing systems need further development to increase economic performance

3. Improvements need to be based on fundamental knowledge of crop behaviour and physiology

Canopy Research Review 2013by Dr Stuart Tustin, Plant & Food Research NZ

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1. Macadamias are still a relatively under developed horticultural crop

You are not alone !!

Avocado Almond

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0

10

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30

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1975 1985 1995 2005 2013

Apples (QLD)

Kiwifruit - GREEN (NZ)

Kiwifruit - GOLD (NZ)

Mangos (QLD)

Avocados (QLD)

Macadamia (kernel)

Almond (kernel)

2. Improved growing systems required to increase economic performance

Primary source: Australian Bureau of Statistics , Zespri, AMS and ABA

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3. Crop behaviour and physiology

1. Structural : functional relationships of the tree

• plant architecture (training and pruning systems)

• flowering, fruiting and alternate bearing

2. Manipulating canopy light relations at the orchard level (planting systems)

3. Opportunities to use rootstocks – control of tree size, vigour and floral precocity (time to first crop)

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Extensive, cost driven growing systems are a race to the bottom

Intensified growing systems are a race to the top!

“If you keep on doing the same thing ... then you will keep on getting the same result!!”

Key features of intensification:

• Growers willing to test new ways of doing things and willing to set new production targets

• Industry invests in breeding of new cultivars and rootstocks

Successful crops have intensified growing systems

Evolution of the apple orchard> 50 years of apple development

Slender pyramid and dwarfing rootstocksCentral leader

Multiple trunks Open vase with trunks tied together

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Success based on light management and carbon partitioning – aim is to have more fruit and less wood

Productivity is determined by the:

1. Amount of light intercepted by the tree

2. Distribution of this light within the leaf canopy

3. Portion of that light which is partitioned to support fruit growth

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1000

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Ap

ple

yie

lds (

t/h

a)

% Total light interception

(from Lakso, 1994)

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To achieve the same result with macadamias will require new ways of thinking

Avocado Almond Macadamia

“Issues are the same but industry responses can be different”

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Key questions for macadamia growers to ask of their current “large tree” growing systems

• What is the effective productive surface area of the tree?

• What proportion of the orchard canopy contributes to yield?

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Recent success with intensifying avocado growing systems

Progress in New Zealand, California and Chile to develop “small tree” high density avocado orchards based on the slender

pyramid training system

New Zealand Chile

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Successful pruning and training systems start in the nursery

Nursery production for ‘Hass’ Slender Pyramid trees

Retain just a single growing point on each plant …

… trunk becomes more vigorous and naturally produces the required Slender Pyramid shape with minimal or no pruning

… are there similar opportunities with macadamia?

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What are the opportunities for macadamias?

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Remove the barriers that have stopped growers from

replacing their “large tree” growing systems:

– Cost and quality of trees (if replanting)

– Time taken for trees to produce their first crop (precocity)

– Time to break even at orchard block level (planting system)

– Availability of new cultivars and rootstocks

www.plantandfood.com.au

Plant & Food Research Australia Pty Ltd

Thank you

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Grant.Thorp@plantandfood.com.au