CULTURAL TIP: ASSESS YOUR CULTURAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
The most successful California Avocado growers know there are different cultural management activities that need to be applied throughout the year. The key skills for success are often knowing what to do and how much of a particular activity to do. The goal is to properly support the trees at each stage of the growth cycle. As the first step the grower needs to be able to figure out what the trees need. The best time to see the real health of the avocado trees is when they can be expected to be under stress as part of the normal growing cycle. Right now is one of the best times of the year to really see how successful your cultural management has been in the past year and even the past two years. Strong healthy trees with overwintered leaves of good quality are the most desirable. The leaves emerge from winter green and ready to stay on the tree through spring flowering and fruit set. Heavy crops and hanging fruit later than normal is generally very draining on avocado trees, and is often seen in leaves having poor quality causing a large numbers of leaves to be shed by the tree. These leaves have to be re-grown taking valuable resources from the tree that are better used supporting flowering and fruit set. Right now is the best time to see if the trees have recovered from the 2009-10 crop, as it is possible that some trees will still be exhausted and fail to set a good crop despite taking a year's "rest" from carrying fruit. The basic principles to follow are:
- Read the trees
- Identify if there is a problem early
- Take action to fix the problem in time
This then leaves the grower with the key question: What should I do to fix a problem? The answer to this question depends very much on what the problem or problems are. As an example, if the problem is poor leaf quality at the start of flowering and fruit set, the fix may be improved nutrition and the best time for fertilizer application could be in Fall. Having to do something in Fall to avoid a problem in Spring requires the avocado grower to always be looking back but thinking ahead. This is why successful production of avocado fruit is complicated and challenging.
There is considerable value in making observations about your trees all year round. As a first step to identifying what the particular problems are on your grove, carry a small pocket sized notebook and pencil as you walk your grove. Take notes about the health of your trees and when growth stages occur. Jot down ideas that come to you about what you could do. Over time you can use these notes to review how successful your cultural management practices are and can be used in your discussion with your farm advisor.
For further information, please contact your farm advisor. To find your farm advisor, please visit:
http://camastergardeners.ucdavis.edu/California_Counties_MG_Websites/
