Productivity

• Monitoring phenology (tree growth cycles)
  
  Understanding the changes in key phenological events from year to year forms the basis of horticultural management practices. Considerable knowledge has been gained in this project but the trees being monitored are now too large for the top branches to be measured. The site for this project will be moved to the research orchard in Te Puke. A detailed picture of the development of shoots, flower buds, fruit-set and other phenology will be developed from this year.
  
  Click here to view the latest report from the Phenology Monitoring Project

• Manipulating storage reserves
  
  Strategies to increase the levels and accumulation of starch will be evaluated for their ability to overcome alternate bearing. The timing of flower induction and flower bud development will be investigated in detail, through examination of flower buds under a microscope. This project aims to understand why flower buds develop into determinate or indeterminate flowering shoots.

• Chemical flower thinning
  
  Breaking the alternate bearing cycle requires a reduction in fruit in the on-year crop which can be achieved by reducing the number of flowers. A practical means of reducing excessive flowering is to use a chemical flower thinner. Trials to date have suggested a suitable chemical flower thinning agent that can reduce fruit set by half in a heavy ‘on-flowering' year. This year whole tree will be sprayed with the chemical flower thinner to reduce fruit set in excessively flowering trees.

• Tree Guide (Sustainable Farming Fund project)
  
  This is a new project that aims to produce a grower guide that describes how far away avocado trees are from an ideal state for regular cropping. The guide will allow trees to be rated for a number of variables on a scale. The scales used will be tested to verify if they are correct. Several consultants and avocado growers are working co-operatively to determine the best way to present the guide for growers to use.