2 minute read
Biostimulants generate earlier orchard returns
Biostimulants are proving a great tool for upping productivity while reducing environmental impacts.
By setting up beneficial biology in the soil and on foliage, biostimulants support optimal growth and resilience in plants. This leads to better nutrient uptake by plants resulting in consistent good yields of high-quality fruit and a reduced need for agrichemicals and fertilisers.
A recently completed apple trial of the BioStart biostimulant programme on a section of Vesty Orchards showed that enhancing soil biology through regularly applying Mycorrcin resulted in better shaped trees that established faster, leading to higher yields earlier. BioStart Mycorrcin is a soil biostimulant that activates beneficial soil microbes that stimulate root growth and increase nutrient uptake in plants. The Hawke’s Bay trial was begun on newly planted Royal Gala – Pacific Star trees and overseen by orchard manager Andy Sandbrook. The trees were trained using the standard central leader method and planted at 3 m x 1.2 m. All trees received the same standard fertiliser and agrichemical programme throughout the trial. The trial started at planting in August 2018, with Mycorrcin being applied three times per year.
By year four the application of the BioStart programme had increased the trunk cross-sectional area by 44 percent, tree height by 24 percent, and the total number of branches per tree by 25 percent. Importantly, the BioStart treated trees had 67 percent more branches between 0.7 and 1.1 m of the trunk (from 2.5 to 4.2 branches per tree) which is the ideal place for productive branches to grow. In addition, all the Mycorrcin treated trees had two or more branches between 0.7 and 1.1 m of the trunk, whereas 23 percent of untreated trees had less than two branches between 0.7 and 1.1 m of the trunk. In January 2022 the two dominant branches of each tree were assessed for branch length and the amount of fruit on these branches counted. The BioStart treated trees had a 27 percent increase in the branch length of the two dominant branches per tree (from 0.9 to 1.1 m per tree) and the fruit count was 25 percent greater. Overall, this means the BioStart treated trees had a better architecture with more branches located in the right area of the trunk creating a high yielding tree shape. As a result of these bigger and better structured trees, at harvest this year the grower picked 3kg more apples per tree from BioStart treated trees, which is a 12 percent yield increase correlating to 8 MT/ha. Andrew was thrilled with the results, and is now moving on to using Mycorrcin on the rest of the orchard.
These same age apple trees show BioStart Mycorrcin treated on the left, while those on the right are from the untreated block
Orchard Manager, Andrew Sandbrook, and BioStart Territory Manager for Horticulture, Phil Carter, were well pleased with the lift in yield at the finish of the trial harvest
