12/3/2014 1 Matthew Whiting Opportunities to improve sweet cherry production efficiency What we have…… • Aged genetics • Lengthy production cycles • Inefficient/static production systems • Compartmentalized system for production, processing, marketing • Increasing competition • Increasing cost & decreasing supply of labor • Inadequate education and outreach
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12/3/2014
1
Matthew Whiting
Opportunities to improve sweet
cherry production efficiency
What we have……• Aged genetics• Lengthy production cycles • Inefficient/static production
systems• Compartmentalized system
for production, processing, marketing
• Increasing competition• Increasing cost &
decreasing supply of labor• Inadequate education and
Diurnal trends of PAR interception of UFO and Y-trellis architecture. July 5th, 2011.
• Diurnal trend was nearly symmetric around solar noon
• Yield potential on angled canopies is greater than planar canopies
PAR interception of vertical and angled fruiting walls
Mechanical pruning
• Simplified planar systems – simplify pruning
• Investigated potential for mechanical pruning in UFO since 2010
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• Collard system • 7 (vertical) or 4 (horizontal) circular saw blades• 6-th leaf UFO • Hand vs. Mech. Vs. Mech + hand
Mechanical pruning
CONCLUSIONS
Hand pruning2 min 40 s per tree (1800 trees/ha = 80 hr/ha)
Full mechanical pruning:� 12.5-times faster (6.5 hr/ha)� Removed ca. 60% less wood than hand pruning
Mechanical + hand pruning: � 25% faster than hand pruning� Same amount of wood removed as hand pruning
Good potential to reduce pruning time/costs using mechanical systems.
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Objective
Determine best management practices
for pruning sweet cherry and apple mechanically,
by understanding equipment and orchard
requirements.
Mechanical pruning
• Gillison’s GVF Center Mount
Topper and Hedger
• Side shift ca. 1 .2 m on
either side of the tractor
• Height adjustment of 1 m to
6.5 m
• 360° rotation of cutting head
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Experiment outlineApple
Mechanical pruning vs. hand pruning
Apple
Mechanical pruning vs. hand pruning
Sweet cherry
Mechanical hedging and topping vs/+ hand pruning
Pre/postharvest topping
Sweet cherry
Mechanical hedging and topping vs/+ hand pruning
Pre/postharvest topping
Sweet cherry trials:
Trial block details
Variety Tieton
Rootstock ‘Gisela ®5’
Training system UFO
Tree age 8th leaf
Tree spacing 2.5 x 3.1 m
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Trial design:
3 treatments x 5 reps • 20 trees/rep• Completely randomized design• Post-harvest hedging and topping
Mechanical pruning vs. Hand pruning
YEAR 11. Hand pruning
2. Mechanical pruning (1)
3. Mechanical pruning (2)
YEAR 21. Hand pruning
2. Mechanical pruning
3. Mechanical pruning + Hand pruning
Data collection
• Time to prune
• Performance of the
machine
• Weight wood pruned
• Wood damage
• Economic evaluation
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Preliminary results (2014)
• Hand pruning removed 2 x wood removed than mechanical pruning• Hand pruning 10 kg/tree• Mechanical pruning 5 kg/tree• “Dirty cuts”
0
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
0.05
0.06
0.07
Hand pruning Mechanical pruning
Kg
/cm
2Wood pruned
Results - Time
• Mechanical pruning 23 x faster than hand pruning (hedging and topping)• Hand pruning 374 sec/tree 6 min/tree• Mechanical pruning 16 sec/tree 0.3 min/tree• Tractor speed: 1.9 km/h
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Mechanical pruning Hand pruning
Tim
e/re
p (
min
)
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Topping
Hedging
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Example
• Sweet cherry orchard trained toUFO training system
• Spacing: 2 m x 3.1 m• 8 h work/day• Mechanical pruning:
• 6 h/ha
• 1.3 ha/day• Hand pruning:
• 135 h/ha• 0.06 ha/day
Mechanical pollination
• Colony collapse disorder, variable environmental conditions, poor bloom overlap, insufficient pollenizers/pollinators all threaten ability to set a crop
For yield security and resilience to:
8.2 t/ha
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Proposed solution:
• Collect pollen• Suspend pollen• Apply pollen via sprayer
• Challenges:– Stigma is a small target!
– Pollen loses viability in liquid
Electrostatic sprayer
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Mechanical pollination
‘Tieton’/ ‘Gisela 5’: 8 years old trained to UFO
Mechanical pollination
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Mechanical pollination
a
b
• Proof of concept study• Supplemental pollination• Sprayed pollen once at 50% bloom
• Fruit set improved 15%• Increased pollen deposition
Mechanical pollination
• Proof of concept study• Replacement pollination• Sprayed pollen through bee
exclusion netting• Two applications (50% and 90%
)
• Yield similar to open-pollinated trees
a
b
01234567
Control TreatedFru
it y
ield
(kg
/tre
e)
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Mechanical pollination
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
Treated ControlF
ruit
set
(%
)
a
b
Mechanical shaking to transfer pollenSelf-fertile cultivars
Mechanical harvest
• Harvest costs are >50% of all• Labor cost increasing• Labor availability decreasing
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Mechanical harvest
• Taking short- and long-term approach using total systems approach– Mechanical assist (shake-and-catch)– Fully mechanical harvest
In domestic and export markets, stem-free cherries are accepted/preferred
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New packaging + marketing by Chelan Fresh
Plant growth regulators
• Post-bloom thinning• AVG for improving fruit set
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15 May
73 DBH
9.7 mm
22 May
66 DBH
13.4 mm
29 May
59 DBH
14.0 mm
8 June
49 DBH
14.5 mm
Post-bloom thinning response:
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Summary of 2012 trials• Ethephon is an effective post-bloom thinner• Efficacy is rate dependent• Early applications more effective• Quality improvements not assoc. with thinning
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
‘Lapins’
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Fruit quality – weight (g) vs. fruit per foot
Fruit per foot
Fru
it w
eigh
t (g)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
All treatmentsControl100 ppm Ethephon200 ppm Ethephon
• Continuing research on moderate Ethephon rates on quality
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‘Kordia’ in Tasmania
Treatment Fruit set (%) Fruit wt (g) Cracked fruit
(%)
Control 9.7 a 14.5 b 25.1 b
AVG 500 g/ha 15.3 b 12.9 a 14.0 a
(ca. ¾ pouch/ac)
Rate of AVG ns ns ns
Time of
application
ns ns ns
Collaboration with Dugald Close, Sally Bound; UTas