Tree Crop News

Pome fruit - Featured Crop

A very happy place

Anthony Rullo had little experience in producing his own cherries (despite growing up surrounded by a cherry orchard) until three years ago when he embraced the opportunity to plant his own trees and simultaneously trial some cutting-edge technology.

Pome fruit - Featured Crop

Netting, rain cover and solar innovations to protect orchard crops

Protecting orchard crops from hail, rain and excessive sunlight is becoming increasingly important to avoid fruit damage. Hail and extreme heat events appear to be more common as our climate is changing and rain spoilage is an ongoing issue in stone fruit crops, particularly cherry.

Pome fruit - Featured Crop

Packaging (MAP) for stone fruit export

By John Lopresti and Glenn Hale - horticultural consultants Fruitful Insights Australian stone fruit is exported by both air and sea freight typically in plastic film liners ranging from perforated high humidity (HH) bags to modified atmosphere packaging (MAP).

Pome fruit - Featured Crop

Nutrient management for pome fruit

Australian Pear & Apple Limited says the key to a targeted approach to nutrient management is understanding your soil, leaf composition and nutrient levels in fruit pre-harvest.

Pome fruit - Stone Fruit

Hydrorock subsurface water saving technology

Developed by a Dutch company, Hydrorock is an innovative subsurface water saving technology composed of blocks of mineral wool - a rock-based mineral material made into a matted fibre buried in the ground and designed to deliver an optimum and constant supply of water to tree crops.

Cherries - Pome fruit - Stone Fruit

Future is cherry ripe for very happy family orchard

Kyabram orchardists Anthony Rullo and Alexandra Milosevich see embracing innovative water saving technologies as the key to their future after establishing a 5ha cherry orchard on a property just outside of Kyabram in July 2022.

Pome fruit - Insect & mite control

Vayego all the go for South West WA orchards with weevils

Limited chemical control options and high reliance on the Group 22a insecticide, indoxacarb, for control of weevils in pome and stone fruit orchards throughout South West WA, has always meant a new option was going to be enthusiastically welcomed.

Pome fruit - Stone Fruit

Thinning strategies for European pears

Many European pear cultivars crop heavily and require thinning to ensure regular yields and optimise fruit quality. However, compared with apple, there is limited information available on how to best manage crop loads, particularly the newer cultivars.

Avocado - Pome fruit - Stone Fruit

Bringing home the Bacon at Barham Avocados

When it comes to avocado trees, Tim and Katrina Myers have been blazing a trail along the Murray at Barham, NSW, through droughts, floods, pandemics, global financial crises, good crops and, well, some not so good.

Pome fruit - Stone Fruit

Minimal impact of phytosanitary irradiation

Global trade enables the movement of seasonally fresh produce between countries.

Pome fruit - Stone Fruit

Getting to the core of apple and pear profitability

Apple and pear growers are about to take growing profits to the next level – powered by PIPS 4 Profit.

Pome fruit - Stone Fruit

Scandinavian Celina – dare to be dazzled

The Australian pear industry is about to be dazzled with the first stage of commercialisation of the Celina/ QTee hitting the market.

Pome fruit - Tree crop insights

Apple fruit thinning benefits too great to ignore

Some apple growers can get nervous about using chemical fruit thinners. However, Sam Boyce, operations manager at a Goulburn Valley orchard, says the savings in manual thinning and early market sales benefits are simply too great to ignore.

Pome fruit - Stone Fruit - Insect & mite control

Angler trap targets Carpophilus beetle

Grochem offers a new trapping system for Carpophilus beetle – a major pest in ripening stone and pome fruit.

Pome fruit - Insect & mite control

Apple industry welcomes miticide with new MOA

After increased mite pressure in apple orchards in recent seasons and more than a decade since a new mode of action miticide has been introduced, a new product hitting the shelves always was going to be a valuable addition for growers’ control programs.