The narrow orchard rows planted with Pink Eve apples establishing in a trial at the Agriculture Victoria Smart Farm in Tatura.
Goulburn Valley orchardists have explored the ramifications of narrowing orchard rows to maximise fruit yields.
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A visiting horticultural consultant at the Agriculture Victoria Smart Farm at Tatura, offered examples of narrow orchard systems.
Narrow Orchard Systems are being investigated for cherry, nectarine, apricot, plum, apple and pears at the Tatura smart farm.
Planting trees in narrow two-metre rows with trees spaced at two metres along the row and maintaining a narrow canopy aims to increase the evenness of light as it passes through the foliage to maximise fruit quality, while keeping tree costs equivalent to current high-density planting systems.
The trial is restricting the tree height to about two metres by grafting to dwarfing rootstocks which will enable easy access for labour and remove the use of ladders.
Visiting consultant Mauricio Frias looks at the height of the narrow orchard system being developed at the Tatura smart farm.
Visiting Chilean horticulture consultant Mauricio Frias, speaking at the APAL organised orchard walk, discussed issues including multi-leader development, increasing production per hectare, and showed examples of narrow orchards.
While narrow orchard development costs more to establish, there are long-term advantages.
More orchard equipment was being developed to suit narrower systems.
Mr Frias challenged the growers to consider the target of growing 450 tonnes of fruit per hectare.
“You need to have a number to work with,” he said.
“In my country, it is easy to find some growers who are happy with 160 tonnes or similar.
“If you do something better you can arrive at 250 tonnes. Some growers have arrived at that number.”
He said it was possible to reach 300 tonnes/hectare, as some growers had been able to achieve that.
Ag Vic research scientist Dr Alessio Scalisi examines the leaders on Pink Eve apples planted in the narrow orchard.
Visiting Spanish researcher Luis González Nieto identified his home region of Catalonia with weather experienced in the Goulburn Valley and noted the striking similarities.
His region experiences hot summer temperatures reaching up to 40℃, and has a dry climate, resulting in the threat of sunburn and discolouration of Gala variety apples.
He said the industry could respond to climate change in one of three ways: escape, adapt or mitigate.
In his region, orchards have developed close to the coast, just a few hundred metres above sea level.
Spain’s largest modern orchard, however, has been established some distance away, about 1200 metres above sea level to take advantage of a different climate.
Louis Nieto speaks to growers at the APAL orchard walk at the Tatura smart farm.
Mr Nieto said growers wanting to adapt to climate change were choosing different fruit varieties and adopting heat stress management techniques.
Other measures growers can adopt to mitigate the impact of climate change are emissions reductions with organic fertilisers and carbon sequestration with the use of bio char.
Targeted spraying was another choice that could reduce environmental impacts and save money.
Agriculture Victoria research leader Ian Goodwin explains the background to the orchard trials on the farm walk organised by APAL.
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