Last Tuesday saw FGV's Michael Crisera attend the Blush Pear Research Series orchard walk in Tatura.
David Williams presented Understanding Mites in Deciduous Tree Fruit Orchards.
Growers and industry representatives were taken through the demonstration blocks with the blush pear varieties of Deliza, Lanya and 534(not commercially named yet)
Within the blocks there are numerous trials of differing rootstocks, training systems and irrigation systems.
Some notes from the walk:
- Rootstock Quince A (with Beurre Hardy interstem) had the highest flower density and appears to have the highest crop load (about to harvest in next 10 days) compared to D6 and BP1
- Two leader system (at 1 m tree spacing in a vertical system and 0.5 m tree spacing in Open Tatura) was the easiest to train with equal vigour in each leader compared to 4 leader, cordon, central leader and vase trees
- ANP-0131 (fruit marketed as Deliza®) has cropped extremely well and probably should have been thinned to reach a fruit weight of 180 g
- ANP-0131 (fruit marketed as Deliza®) responded well to scoring in November with dormant buds producing shoots. Similarly, cutting vigorous strong shoots back to a long stub in November produced several short shoots.
- Colour development in response to shading and exposure to light was investigated in ANP-0534. We found fruit would lose colour quickly when shaded; however, colour rapidly returned when fruit was re-exposed to light .
