Growing Fruit to Market Requirements NETTING CITRUS TO MEET MARKET - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Growing Fruit to Market Requirements NETTING CITRUS TO MEET MARKET REQUIREMENTS What was the market telling us? Class 2 fruit is hard to sell at a profitable value There is no juice value for navels and mandarins There are good
NETTING CITRUS TO MEET MARKET REQUIREMENTS
Class 2 fruit is hard to sell at a profitable value There is no juice value for navels and mandarins There are good markets and value for large blemish free fruit Seedless mandarins are more desired than seedy ones in most
markets
We had class 1 pack outs for Navels as low as 15%, averaging 25-
30% over the last 10 yrs. This is too low! Wind blemish was the number
Our Afourers had a few seeds due to cross pollination. With an
increasing volume of fruit to come on the market we wanted to keep ours seedless to attract a premium relative to seedy fruit.
Prune, thin and reduce wind speed. We were already doing the first two quite well. So we needed to reduce wind speed.
Windbreaks do this, we had planned for them but turned them off in the drought. They also require a lot of water , rob yield and occupy land.
After a lot of research we opted for a flat top netting structure. 6m high, steel poles, 20mm white quad weave top and 8mm black quad weave sides for extra wind break effect.
Exclude bees to stop cross pollination. We added a curtain around the Afourer patch.
Added benefits of improved water use efficiency, hail protection and to a lesser extent sun protection
Only one full season of flowering to ripening completed under
netted conditions.
Structure performed largely as expected, but there were a couple
You get results as soon as the structure is erected. Don’t have to
wait for it to grow (well, only a couple of months not 5-8yrs)
Pack out results Effect on bottom line
Value increase of $122/T At 58T/Ha = $7,076/Ha
58 24 18 79 7 14 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 C1 C2 J
NAVELINA
UN N
Pack out results Effect on bottom line
Value increase of $234/T At 57T/Ha = $13,395/Ha
37 48 15 66 24 10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 C1 C2 J
WASHINGTON
UN N
Pack out results Effect on bottom line
Value increase of $424/T At 80T/Ha = $33,920/Ha
41 44 15 74 21 5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 C1 C2 J
CARA CARA
UN N
Pack out results
Value increase of $188/T At 50T/Ha = $9,400/Ha
Effect on bottom line
46 37 17 67 21 12 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 C1 C2 J
LATE NAVELS
UN N
Pack out results Effect on bottom line
Value increase of $240/T At 60T/Ha = $14,400/Ha Only a slight increase in value due
to pack out. Extra value was mainly for a seedless premium. This premium was less than I had hoped for, but it may increase as time goes?
70 16 14 73 20 7 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 C1 C2 J
AFOURER
UN N
Pack out results Pack out results
Value decrease of $27/T At 45 T/ha = -$1,215/Ha Negligible difference in pack out.
Seem to be able to get more marked Imps into C1 possibly due to their already pebbly appearance.
71 13 16 67 22 11 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 C1 C2 J
IMPERIAL
UN N
Delayed external ripening, 1-2 weeks later than outside the net. I
feel this is mainly due to solar radiation interception by the nets.
Pruning to open canopy, paying closer attention to N and K levels. Manipulate irrigation to help bring on colour development. Only one seasons observations. Reduced picking hours under wet or heavy dew conditions. Trees
are slow to dry. We start 1-3hrs later than outside the net. However, it works the opposite in light dew mornings, nets stay a little warmer
later in the day under the nets
Increased vegetative growth. This requires a little extra time at
pruning and hedging to counter, plus we have to feather once in the Feb/March period. We do the same regime outside but it takes a little longer under the nets. We keep an eye on our nutrient levels and try to keep them just optimal (possibly money saving).
Pest insects can increase. We haven’t experienced this, but we
have increased the money we spend monitoring under the nets as I am wary this can be an issue. We are trying to be proactive in our
conditions under the net as well. Like I said, only 1 full completed season with two half seasons.
For our situation we have increased our income by producing more
saleable fruit at higher values across most varieties.
Net provides insurance against extreme weather events, hail, wind, and
netting if conducted.
Weather data shows reduced wind speed of around 50%. There are
plenty of other weather parameters also altered by the netting but I’ll leave that to the SAMDB NRM guys to explain in the poster session.
We have a reduced requirement to thin under the netting, only need to
thin for crop load, not marked fruit.
There are some management challenges and associated costs. We
found them to be easily dealt with and not that expensive (so far).
Imperials were not worth netting in our situation Need to do you numbers in your situation: How easy is it going to be to build a structure over your orchard?,
this will affect the cost of the structure ($40K-$60K/Ha)
What results are you targeting? What varieties are you netting? Will the investment pay in your situation?
Benefits Afourer Higher priced cartons for seedless product Decreased wind Increased humidity Decreased water use per hectare Increased fruit size Increased packouts Less wind blemish
Increased insect pressure Colour development Increased pruning
Ranges from $ 0.00 to $5.00 per class 1 carton depending on season
and overall supply
$210 per tonne 60 tonnes per hec =$12000
Outside netting about 7 megs to produce 65 tonnes Inside on larger trees about 5.5 megs to produce 65 tonnes In crop rainfall average 400 mm
Seems to be about 1 fruit count depending on rootstock Could also be a correlation of less fruitlets setting
Year 2016 moved from 75 % class 1 outside net on trellis system to
83%
Year 2016 traditional spacing. About the same packout but blocks
with no netting had 20% of fruit removed at a cost of $3500 per hectare as well as the yield penalty of 5 to 10 tonnes. Overall Gross margin difference $7500 to $15000 per hectare depending on block.
Year 2015 decreased packouts under netting due to LBAM damage Year 2014 increased from 60% to 85% class 1 best result in year 1.
High humidity Less wind Outbreaks tend to develop 3 to 4 weeks earlier under net Manage with good pest monitoring that has an increased timing of
visits over the flowering to early fruit set period.
Timely spraying then follow up releases of beneficial bugs 3 weeks
later such as lacewing lavea
Harder to get full colour on lower half of tree in traditional spacing
where tree begins to shade out lower limbs.
Trialing white netting to reduce the percentage light filtering No problems in trellised blocks as full light penetration to base of tree
even under 21% shade
Try and keep tree below 4 metres high
More vigourous growth under netting We prune twice a year by hand to maintain the canopy size after
harvest and reduce water shoots in late summer to maintain light levels in centre of tree
Total pruning is 6 minute per tree per year ($2.50 per tree) By increase pruning we have helped avoid biannual bearing and
cropped more fruit closer to the ground.