Quality Textiles and Custom Solutions for New Zealand Growers

For over 35 years Cosio have provided quality agricultural, horticultural and geotextile products to combat New Zealand’s diverse climatic conditions. Windbreak, shade cloth, frost protection and more, Cosio has growers' needs covered.

For a custom Cosio solution for your property at competitive prices, talk to your Farmlands Technical Advisor or visit your local Farmlands store.

Plan for a Successful Budbreak with Advance Gold ®

Advance Gold® is an alternative mode of action bud breaker for Gold Kiwifruit that provides growers with a proven alternative to hydrogen cyanamide. Advance Gold has been developed by Arxada limited (formerly Lonza), with eight years of commercial trials and six years of commercial use across the key growing regions of Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay and Motueka. The timing of Advance Gold can be further optimised (additional to label information), with the use of the Hazel TrexTM Gold 3 gene test, in conjunction with Zespri’s ‘Budbreak Date Predictor’ tool, plus any historical data around natural budbreak for the site.

Hydrogen Cyanamide has been well established over the years as an effective tool for increasing budbreak and flowering. However, it can also increase unwanted lateral flowers and star triples, significantly increasing thinning costs for growers. Over several years, Zespri has supported Arxada with investment into alternative budbreakers for Gold 3 Kiwifruit. The additional benefits of; reductions in lateral flowers and a favourable short re-entry interval of ‘when fully dry’, makes Advance Gold an effective and safer alternative to existing budbreak technology in Gold 3 Kiwifruit.

With A.I nozzles and a Drift Reducing Adjuvant mandated by Zespri for applications of hydrogen cyanamide, Squall®, a specific Drift Reducing Adjuvant, is a very effective solution. Squall has been tested infield with hydrogen cyanamide (and other pre-flower sprays, including bactericides) and has proven to be both highly effective, tank mix compatible and crop safe. Squall is also compatible with Advance Gold, although not mandated to be included by Zespri, it can be beneficial to further mitigate drift, enhance deposition and improve rainfastness.

Advance Gold was commercially launched in April 2017 by Arxada. It is an EPA approved and ACVM registered product, that is approved by Zespri in the Crop Protection Standard. Advance Gold is a two-part mix of salicylic acid and a nitrogen activator, with an in-built adjuvant system, providing a different mode of action budbreaker for Gold 3 Kiwifruit. Advance Gold plus Advance Gold Activator, when applied between a Hazel Trex index of 5.0 - 6.0 or 35 days before natural budbreak, will deliver enhanced and uniform budbreak, condensed flowering, with an increase in flower numbers and fewer lateral (double and triple) and tightly clustered (star triple) flowers. These reductions in lateral flowers bring significant cost savings to growers by reducing labour input and speeding up the thinning process.

Natural budbreak can be very site specific for orchards. Even properties close to one another can have a large date range of when natural budbreak occurs. Applications of Advance Gold more than 7 days before or after the 35-days before natural budbreak window can reduce the effects of Advance Gold. The investments Zespri have made in the Hazel Trex gene test and the budbreak predictor tool can further optimise application timing. These tools are site specific and have proven to be much more reliable than just using the calendar, or area weather stations alone to determine optimal timing of your budbreak enhancer.

Contact your Farmlands horticultural Technical Advisor for more information on how Advance Gold® and Squall® can benefit your growing operation.

Article supplied by Arxada

Spray drift can be caused and exacerbated by various factors including application speed, operating pressure, nozzle selection, boom height, proximity to crop, weather conditions and also by what is mixed into the spray tank. There are many reasons to mitigate spray drift, including applications near sensitive areas (e.g. public), to avoid potential offtarget residues, crop effects (e.g. phytotoxicity) or potential contamination (e.g. water ways) and legal or industry mandated requirements - to ensure the active is on the target for optimal efficacy.

Squall® is a specific Drift Reducing Adjuvant, made from 100% biodegradable polymers. Squall® minimises driftable fines by producing a larger median droplet size. It also improves deposition, delivering more spray onto the target by reducing spray droplet bounce off the crop, with enhanced rain/irrigation fastness.

The polymers in Squall® increase the viscosity of the spray solution, to minimise the potential for smaller droplets to form as the spray solution exits the nozzle under pressure, in the presence of typical spray application conditions. Squall® also counteracts the negative effects that some products and tank-mixtures can have, which can lead to the production of small (driftable fine) droplets. The enhanced deposition onto the crop is particularly beneficial for harder to wet crops (e.g brassicas, onions etc.) combined with the improved rainfastness – further advancing results in-field.

Squall® can be used in all situations for the application of crop protection products to assist with drift mitigation, adherence to buffer zones, including those where the addition of a drift reducing adjuvant is a mandatory requirement. It can also be used for all application methods, irrespective of sprayer setups or nozzle types (including TeeJet and Air Inclusion, etc.). The use rate for Squall®, using high volume ground-based spray applications, is 0.5% (500 ml / 100 litres).