Vivaflor

Biostimulant for use in Viticulture

• Activates plant hormones for improved reproductive health

• Reduces issues with fruit set caused by environmental stress

• Improves homogeneity of berries, evens cluster weight and increases overall yield

Technical team to give nutrition update

Omex Horticulture will be exhibiting at this year’s Fruit Focus event. The company’s horticultural technical managers will be attending, including soft fruit agronomist Dr Neil Holmes, Richard Cameron and Joe Barfoot.

The UK-based team will be educating growers on the importance of in-feed water treatment through the use of DeSaltus 2.0, with trials from 2022 showing impressive results. Dr Holmes will be presenting within the Fruit Focus speakers’ tent, and questions are invited on their exhibition stand throughout the day.

The Omex technical team will also be highlighting the importance of an overall integrated crop nutrition programme for soft fruit whilst introducing new product, Catalyst to the market. Catalyst is a liquid humous designed to mimic and replace organic acids and compounds no longer supplied in peat-free growing media.

In addition, Omex o ers SAP analysis, which the technical managers will be discussing with visitors on the day. SAP analysis tests 17 di erent nutrients that are actively available within the growing crop, helping growers improve nutrient use e ciency across the country. Current samples are showing plants are lacking early growth, partly due to weather conditions. Joe Barfoot explains: “The sustained poor weather growers have experienced is resulting in weak early growth. Treating crops to a dose of stress buster Bio 20, suitable for a range of crops, will help plants ourish as the growing cycle continues.”

Omex recently submitted Bio 20 for impartial RNA-sequencing transcriptomic testing to give growers a deeper understanding on how the biostimulant positively a ects the genetics of the plant. The trial concludes that Bio 20 appears has a positive impact on gene expression in roots.

For more information visit the Omex Horticulture team on their stand. Fruit Focus stand number: 410

Number of new products on display

Royal Brinkman is looking forward to the Fruit Focus show this year, having attended consistently for over 10 years. The company will be bringing a number of new products to this year’s event to complement its existing extensive range.

Orius Cold has been developed in conjunction with Royal Brinkman’s partners at Agrobio, and represents a revolutionary step forward in thrip control, the company says. Orius Cold stands out for its large size, huge voracity, and resistance to cold situations, making it ideal for winter and spring releases. The technical team also claims to have the most e ective biological control strategies to deal with aphids, large and small. It is essential to have specialised technical advice, an e ective protocol and the right combination of predators and parasitoids to arrive on time.

Also on the stand will be the Celine measuring system – a technical installation that takes completely independent samples of watering and drain water: not once a week, but eight times a day! The sample is also analysed in real-time for nutrients present. With the results, you can manage fertilisation much more e ciently, thereby providing added value.

Analysing water samples by external laboratories has been commonplace within horticulture for years. Weekly or bi-weekly, a grower takes a water sample but has to wait a few days to receive the result. On this result, the fertilisation recipe can be adjusted, but as a grower you are always behind the times. With the Celine measurement system at the nursery, the nutrient balance is measured much more frequently. These measurements are immediately available within a digital platform where all data and insights can be found.

As already mentioned, Royal Brinkman specialists will be giving presentations on both new products during the day at Fruit Focus. Fruit Focus stand number: 518

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Impressive tractor range

Kirkland will be once again exhibiting at Fruit Focus 2023. On the company’s stand you’ll be able to see the impressive Antonio Carraro tractor range, including the “unbeatable” Mach 4 Quadtrac Tony. Built with a 98hp Kubota engine and narrow width of just 1.3m, it’s the ideal machine for steep slopes – even in extreme wet conditions.

With chemical-free weeding solutions on everyone’s minds, Kirkland supplies Orizzonti equipment, which is perfect for fruit growers looking for a variety of robust and reliable pruning and cultivating machinery including pruners and trimmers, leaf removers and pre-pruners, shredders and ails, inter-row cultivators, subsoilers, pruning sweeps and mounted forklifts.

The innovative Air-jet Berry Harvester wil also be on display – ideal for blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and blackcurrants. It harvests soft fruits via air pulsations, allowing harvesting to be undertaken without damaging plants or berries.

Philip Mann at Bedstone Growers commented on how pleased he is with his harvester: "It has far surpassed our expectations, and harvest quality of the fruit is very similar compared to hand pick.

"We estimate it has replaced 35 hand-picking members of sta and we only require four operatives for the harvester; one driver, two changing crates and one taking fruit back to the cold store.”

Fruit Focus stand number: 106

Hands-on demonstrations

Having recently exhibited at the Viti-Culture show in June, Agricare is now gearing up to exhibit at Fruit Focus in July.

The business says it loves interacting with all the fantastic people in the fruit growing industry, and reckons Fruit Focus is the ideal event to be able to do this.

Once again, Agricare will be proudly promoting its innovative products, which include some of the top industry brands.

CARMO wooden posts are the ultimate posts to support your fruit and vines for many years to come. Not only do they look great, but they are guaranteed for 20 years against premature decay. Agricare says you may wonder how a wooden post can be guaranteed for that long – but pay the team a visit on the day, and you will be able to see why as they will have a genuine cross section of samples to prove just how great they are.

There will be live demonstrations of the world-class Infaco F3020 electric pruners on the stand, along with the very popular Bellota Cordless pruning and tying equipment. Both of these products will be available for hands-on demos.

Agricare is also now responsible for promoting the Fruit Security crop protection systems in the UK, and will joined on the stand by Gerben van Veldhuizen – founder of Fruit Security, who will be demonstrating how the systems can safeguard your harvest from frost, rain and hail.

Fruit Focus stand number: 220

Leading specialists in new and used Fendt 200 v/f/p tractors and machinery for fruit, hop and vine growers. Plus spare parts, service, repair and after sales care.