F
Tec
h
nical Semina
r
F
ef
r
uitg
r
owe
r
.co.uk
ThE FrUITGrOWEr • FEbrUAry2017
• smalle
r
, da
r
k
b
lue plums, wit
h
aweig
h
t of at least 30g,
h
ig
h
b
r
ix levels, and a
h
a
r
vest time f
r
om t
h
e end of June until
t
h
e end of Octo
b
e
r
• la
r
ge, o
r
ange-fles
h
edplumsweig
h
ing at least 45g t
h
at va
ry
in colou
r
f
r
om violet/
r
ed toda
r
k
b
lue. T
h
ese also
h
ave a
h
a
r
vest time f
r
om t
h
e endof June until t
h
e end of Octo
b
e
r
.
• nic
h
e plums suc
h
as g
r
eengages,
hybr
ids; fo
r
example, a
c
r
oss
b
etween a Japanese and aEu
r
opean plum like
P
r
unus ce
r
asife
r
a (c
h
e
rry
plum), andMi
r
a
b
elles.
Leon said: “We
h
ave
b
een selectingdiffe
r
ent plums ove
r
t
h
e
last few
y
ea
r
s, looking at diffe
r
entmate
r
ial –w
h
at is inte
r
esting
now andw
h
at will
b
e inte
r
esting in
y
ea
r
s to come. In total, we
h
ave a
r
ound ten p
r
omising selections.We a
r
e p
r
oducing t
r
ees
f
r
omdiffe
r
ent selections, w
h
ic
h
will
b
e planted in la
r
ge-scale
t
r
ials in t
h
e next season in t
h
eUK.” P
r
omising selections
include, fo
r
example, a
y
ellowplum t
h
at was
h
a
r
vestedon 15
Septem
b
e
r
and
h
as ab
r
ix level of 19.5.
Virtual weather stations
Ag
r
ovista’s top f
r
uit tec
h
nolog
y
could soon
b
ecome even
mo
r
e sop
h
isticated
b
ecause t
h
e compan
y
is investigating t
h
e
possi
b
ilit
y
of inco
r
po
r
ating vi
r
tual weat
h
e
r
stations into its
G
r
owe
r
sC
h
oice Inte
r
active (GCI) pest anddisease fo
r
ecasting
se
r
vice.
Ag
r
ovista’s Alexradu said t
h
at t
h
e compan
y
is cu
rr
entl
y
t
r
ialling t
h
eMeteoblueweat
h
e
r
fo
r
ecasting se
r
vice, w
h
ic
h
can
update its
r
ain and tempe
r
atu
r
e fo
r
ecasts eve
ry
15minutes.
Last
y
ea
r
, 35of t
h
ese vi
r
tual stationswe
r
e tested a
r
ound
Eu
r
ope - in t
h
eNet
h
e
r
lands, belgium, Ge
r
man
y
, F
r
ance,
Switze
r
land and t
h
eUK. T
h
is
y
ea
r
, saidAlex, t
h
e plan is to test
a fu
r
t
h
e
r
fou
r
in t
h
eUK. he also asse
r
ted t
h
at t
h
e tec
h
nolog
y
,
w
h
ic
h
is al
r
ead
y
in use in some pa
r
ts of Eu
r
ope, could save
g
r
owe
r
smone
y
in t
h
e long
r
un. “Vi
r
tual stations a
r
e ve
ry
eas
y
to c
r
eate – just a few clicks and
y
ou a
r
e done. T
h
e
r
e’s no
maintenance
r
equi
r
ed,
y
ou don’t need to se
r
vice t
h
e station in
t
h
e field, and t
h
e
y
a
r
e conside
r
a
b
l
y
c
h
eape
r
t
h
an t
h
e [field]
station... so if vi
r
tual stations dop
r
ove to
b
e accu
r
ate it’s got to
b
e amassive saving fo
r
g
r
owe
r
s.”
howeve
r
, Alex
r
evealed todelegates t
h
at t
h
e tec
h
nolog
y
needs a
b
it of fine-tuning
b
efo
r
e it can
b
e inco
r
po
r
ated into
GCI. Fo
r
example, t
h
e ove
r
all
r
esults of last
y
ea
r
’s tests
s
h
owed t
h
at, w
h
ilst tempe
r
atu
r
e datawas ve
ry
accu
r
ate, some
inaccu
r
acieswe
r
e
r
eco
r
ded. T
h
is included t
h
e
r
elative
h
umidit
y
(rh) values t
h
at we
r
e fo
r
ecast
by
Meteoblue, t
h
at we
r
e slig
h
tl
y
lowe
r
t
h
an t
h
e ones
r
eco
r
ded in t
h
e field. It also included t
h
e
infection
r
isk, w
h
ic
h
was ove
r
estimated
by
t
h
emodel. Alex
said: “In a nuts
h
ell, if we
h
ad followed t
h
eMeteobluemodel we
would
h
ave
b
een all
r
ig
h
t and cove
r
ed all t
h
e sca
b
infections.
but cu
rr
entl
y
t
h
emodel does not give
y
ou t
h
at edge of w
h
et
h
e
r
o
r
not t
h
e
y
[t
h
e o
r
c
h
a
r
ds] need t
r
eatment.” Fo
r
t
h
at
r
eason, t
h
e
rh and infection
r
iskmodels a
r
e going to
b
e updated t
h
is
season. “It’s awo
r
k in p
r
og
r
ess - we a
r
e getting t
h
e
r
e,” said
Alex –w
h
op
r
edicted t
h
at, once it’s teet
h
ingp
r
o
b
lems a
r
e
ove
r
come, it could complement amain, on-fa
r
mweat
h
e
r
station o
r
evenma
yb
e
r
eplace t
h
e p
hy
sical weat
h
e
r
stations.
Delegates also lea
r
ned t
h
at, t
h
is sp
r
ing, Ag
r
ovista is t
r
ialling a
powde
ry
mildewmodel into itsGCI package –w
h
ic
h
now
includes an apple sawfl
y
model.
Insect pestsmaking acomeback
Top f
r
uit g
r
owe
r
s need to
b
e ‘on t
h
e
b
all’ andwatc
h
out fo
r
p
r
o
b
lematic pests t
h
at a
r
emaking a come
b
ack. Seve
r
al
expe
r
tswa
r
ned t
h
at a
h
andful of pests – including apple sawfl
y
(
Hoplocampa testudinea
) and leaf
h
oppe
r
– a
r
e once again
b
ecomingmo
r
e common. It is t
h
oug
h
t t
h
at t
h
e decline in t
h
e
use of
br
oad spect
r
um insecticides, w
h
ic
h
gave incidental
cont
r
ol of some pests, is causing t
h
is p
h
enomenon.
Ag
r
ovista’s Paul bennett said: “An
y
majo
r
c
h
ange to a
management s
y
stem is going to
h
ave a consequence and it
ma
y b
e t
h
at ove
r
a pe
r
iod of seasons, sa
y
eve
ry
fou
r
t
h
o
r
fift
h
season,
y
ou
h
ave tomake a c
h
ange just to
br
ingdown t
h
e
populations of t
h
ings like sawfl
y
and leaf
h
oppe
r
.” Ag
r
ovista’s
h
o
r
ticultu
r
al consultant Alexradu noted t
h
at: “Apple sawfl
y
used to
b
e a fai
r
l
y
localised issue and notman
y
g
r
owe
r
s in
Kent we
r
e complaining a
b
out it. It was fai
r
l
y
common in t
h
e
Midlands,
b
ut it is
b
ecomingmo
r
e common inKent aswell
now.” Paul added: “It’s ce
r
tainl
y
t
h
e case t
h
at, pa
r
ticula
r
l
y
in
Kent, I saw ve
ry
low levels of sawfl
y
on fa
r
ms t
h
at I
h
adn’t seen
sawfl
y
on in
y
ea
r
s. I t
h
ink t
h
is is a pest t
h
at can go f
r
om
ext
r
emel
y
low levels to ext
r
emel
y
h
ig
h
levels in one season –
it’s somet
h
ing t
h
at
y
ou need to
b
e on t
h
e lookout fo
r
.”
Wit
h
t
h
e
r
etu
r
n of t
h
is pest inmind, Ag
r
ovista
h
as t
h
is
y
ea
r
int
r
oduced a t
r
ied and tested apple sawfl
y
model into its
G
r
owe
r
sC
h
oice Inte
r
active (GCI) pest anddisease fo
r
ecasting
se
r
vice. Paul noted: “It’s quite timel
y
t
h
at Alex
h
asmanaged to
get t
h
e sawfl
y
module of GCI in place fo
r
t
h
is season andwe
a
r
e confident of its accu
r
ac
y
.” Paul alsowa
r
ned g
r
owe
r
s t
h
at
apple sawfl
y
is pa
r
ticula
r
l
y
h
a
r
mful to c
r
ops
b
ecause, w
h
en t
h
e
la
r
vae eme
r
ge f
r
om t
h
e f
r
uitlets afte
r
petal fall, t
h
e
y
“immediatel
y
penet
r
ate t
h
e nea
r
est f
r
uitlet and t
h
en, w
h
en t
h
e
y
18
