Two Main Factors That Will Have An Impact On This Coming Seasons Crop Potential

It’s always worth drawing a long bow when it comes to looking after your orchard. Many factors impact the potential of your crop but I believe there are two that are paramount to ensure your orchard maximises its potential each season.

The first one is the nutritional program that we adopted this time last year going forward to the coming season we just had. Everything we do on the farm right now is about rebuilding the tree for the next season because the tree needs to have a physical aspect to support a crop. If a tree doesn’t have a good healthy amount of leaf built up within itself the energy is not there to support a crop.

If a tree only has leaves sparsely at the top of it and you put fertilizer down you can expect that tree to outperform a tree that’s healthy-looking because there’s no energy in that tree, to begin with, because there’s no leaf in it. The energy for a crop’s potential is in the leaf accumulation of a tree.

Think about it like this; if you’ve got healthy trees and have a good nutritional program and you decide that you’re not fertilising at all -- the drawdown that you have with that tree will suck a lot of energy out of it. Then, the following season there will be a severe decline because all the energy that’s been sucked out of that tree and has been used to support the crop will mean there will be nothing to support the crop next season.

That’s why it’s so important throughout the phases –- the drawdowns, the flowering which sucks a lot of energy to support, the pea-size, the sizing, the oil accumulation – those four factors use a lot of energy from the tree. Therefore, the more energy you give the tree the more energy it’s got to support a good crop.

The second tip is to make sure you are composting on the farm and doing phosic-acid tree trunk sprays. Those two things are what are going to strengthen the tree and help develop the crop potential going forward for the next season.

The best way to look at it is that we’re always 12 months behind. What I’m doing now is not just for next season but the one after, compensating the energy for next season. Because if I do nothing now –- I’ll still have a good crop but I’ll have severely low energy levels for next season’s crop. 

For more info watch the video below and learn how to get the jump on putting the work into your crop season after season.

Garth Templeman
Grower Liaison
Waliz Nuts PTY LTD