Afourer pruning experiments 2016 - 2018 Y Pruning & Severe Hedging Andrew Harty Costa
The Afourer Conundrum ‘Until Year 10 this variety is like your beautiful girlfriend – and then she suddenly turns into your mother-in-law!’ Dr Etienne Rabe, Wonderful Citrus
Y pruning concept Pioneered on satsuma mandarins in New Zealand Exposed the inner canopy to light by cutting a wedge into the top of the tree Achieved ‘walls of fruit’ on the inner faces Similar to having two small trees on a mature trunk
Afourer Y pruning experiment Started September 2016 10 year old trees on citrange rootstock 6m x 2m spacing = 833 trees/ha Light hedging – top & sides 3-4 upright scaffold limbs removed Stubs intentionally left to encourage lower shoot growth
Y pruning regrowth November 2016 2 months after pruning
Y pruning regrowth October 2017
3rd season from pruning Some internal fruit has set Regrowth needs ongoing work Bending & tucking regrowth shoots may be better than ongoing cutting
Y pruning costs per hectare Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Hedging 285 Hand pruning - spring 2,815 2,165 Hand pruning - regrowth 2,170 1,085 Raking & mulching 525 275 175 Total $ 5,795 $ 3,810 $ 3,710
Y pruning yields ‘Walls of fruit’ only partially achieved after 3 seasons Too early to say if we’ve stabilised yield & bearing pattern Light hedging has produced a more stable, accessible tree PRUNED
Meanwhile back at the ranch… Sun Pacific, California have ‘reset’ all their mature Afourer plantings Bending & tucking is used to manage regrowth
Severe hedging experiment Can we avoid expensive manual pruning by hedging only?
September 2017 February 2019
Tree response to severe hedging First season after hedging - light crop & strong regrowth on hedged side Hedged trees 42 t/ha Unhedged trees 56 t/ha Second season after hedging – good fruit set for 2019 harvest Might only need to hedge one side every 3-4 years February 2019
Questions?