F
BIFGA Tec
h
nical Day
F
ef
r
uitg
r
owe
r
.co.uk
ThE FrUITGrOWEr •MArCh 2017
at NIABEMr,
EastMalling,
Kent.
having
managed
EMr’s 1
h
a
Concept Pea
r
O
r
c
h
a
r
d since it
was planted in
2009, G
r
a
h
am
asse
r
ted t
h
at,
basedon
h
is
expe
r
ience so
fa
r
, “pea
r
swill
r
epay you in
you
r
gene
r
ation.
Fo
r
get t
h
e old
saying ‘pea
r
s
fo
r
h
ei
r
s.’” he
emp
h
asised
t
h
at t
h
e
r
e is a
gap in t
h
e
ma
r
ket becauseUK-g
r
own pea
r
s a
r
e p
r
obably t
h
e f
r
uit t
h
at
we a
r
emost s
h
o
r
t of. “We
r
ely toomuc
h
on impo
r
ts f
r
om
elsew
h
e
r
e inEu
r
ope,”
h
e said. “We’ve got
r
oom to g
r
ow and
I t
h
ink t
h
e fact t
h
at g
r
owingpea
r
s
h
as been taken upby so
many of you
r
[BIFGA’s] g
r
owe
r
smeans t
h
at you a
r
e
r
ealising
t
h
at.”
G
r
a
h
am
r
evealed t
h
at in 2015, fo
r
example, t
h
e o
r
c
h
a
r
d –
w
h
ic
h
was initiated and fundedby AG T
h
ames and
Sainsbu
r
y’s – gaveNIABEMr a net
r
etu
r
n of a
r
ound
£24,000 and t
h
at t
h
e
r
e is still
r
oom to inc
r
ease t
h
is. “We
h
ave s
h
own t
h
at la
r
ge yields a
r
e possible – t
h
e c
h
allenge is
todo t
h
is consistently yea
r
-on-yea
r
”,
h
e said. he admitted
t
h
at t
h
e 2016 c
r
op, t
h
at sadly stopped g
r
owing at t
h
e
beginning of August, was “an absolute disaste
r
.” he
explained t
h
at t
h
e
r
eason fo
r
t
h
iswasmost likely a
combination of seve
r
al diffe
r
ent facto
r
s, including
r
ainfall
levels, a late season d
r
oug
h
t and t
h
ewinte
r
conditions of
2015/16. he also said t
h
at pea
r
s a
r
e ve
r
y
h
ung
r
y,
r
equi
r
ing
la
r
ge amounts of nut
r
ients. he stated t
h
at, of t
h
e fou
r
diffe
r
ent g
r
owing systems t
h
at a
r
e being t
r
ialled in t
h
e
o
r
c
h
a
r
d, t
h
e double-
h
ead system so fa
r
looks tobe “t
h
e
most inte
r
esting going fo
r
wa
r
d.” he said t
h
at t
h
is system,
t
h
at featu
r
es a t
r
eewit
h
two stems, couldbe bette
r
suited to
mec
h
anical p
r
uning and
r
obotics. “It’s going todelive
r
f
r
uit in
suc
h
away t
h
at I t
h
ink t
h
at
r
obotswouldbe able to get to it.”
SpottedWingDrosophila
A new
r
esea
r
c
h
p
r
oject focusing on spottedwing
d
r
osop
h
ila (SWD) is beingdeveloped, now t
h
at t
h
e fou
r
-yea
r
(SF 145)
r
esea
r
c
h
p
r
oject, launc
h
edw
h
en t
h
e pest was fi
r
st
spotted
h
e
r
e in 2012, is coming to an end t
h
ismont
h
(Ma
r
c
h
2017).
Scott raffle,
AhDB
ho
r
ticultu
r
e’s
Knowledge
Exc
h
ange
Manage
r
fo
r
f
r
uit c
r
ops,
r
evealed to top
f
r
uit g
r
owe
r
s
t
h
at: “We a
r
e
developing a
newp
r
oject
because clea
r
ly
we need to
imp
r
ove ou
r
unde
r
standing
of
h
ow to
manage and
cont
r
ol t
h
e pest
in t
h
eUK.”
Scott fi
r
st
r
evealed t
h
at, in
addition to
conventional
c
h
emical
cont
r
ols and
some
h
abitat
su
r
veys, t
h
e
newp
r
oposalswill examine some alte
r
native cont
r
ol
measu
r
es fo
r
t
h
e pest, t
h
at
h
as now sp
r
ead to all pa
r
ts of t
h
e
UK. Scott tolddelegates t
h
at t
h
is couldpossibly include
somewo
r
k on netting. “We know t
h
at finemes
h
nettingwill
keep t
h
e insects out of a plantation. Some g
r
owe
r
s
h
ave
used t
h
at al
r
eady and
h
ad va
r
ying
r
esults, depending on
h
ow
t
h
ey’ve used it andw
h
en t
h
ey e
r
ected it.” he added t
h
at
r
epellentswill alsobe looked at because “t
h
e
r
e a
r
e seve
r
al
new
r
epellents t
h
at a
r
e known to s
h
owp
r
omise. T
h
e
p
r
inciple being t
h
at we apply a
r
epellent to a t
r
ee so t
h
at t
h
e
insects a
r
e not att
r
acted into t
h
e o
r
c
h
a
r
d.” Inte
r
estingly, c
r
op
p
r
otection t
r
ials s
h
owed t
h
at lime “gave a little bit of cont
r
ol”
suggesting t
h
at t
h
e insects don’t like t
h
e smell of it.
Ot
h
e
r
co
r
e elements of t
h
e newp
r
oject, t
h
at is expected to
sta
r
t inAp
r
il, could include t
h
e development of ‘att
r
act and
kill’ tec
h
niques and
r
esea
r
c
h
into ‘dead-end
h
osts’. Scott
noted t
h
at bait sp
r
ay is one a
r
ea t
h
at couldbe explo
r
ed. “We
could look at seve
r
al diffe
r
ent baits in a situationw
h
e
r
e a bait
is actually applied topa
r
t of t
h
e c
r
op and t
h
at will att
r
act t
h
e
insect towa
r
ds a t
r
ap and can kill it.” he t
h
en desc
r
ibed a
‘dead-end
h
ost’ as a plant t
h
at “att
r
acts SWD to it but f
r
om
w
h
ic
h
we a
r
e not going to
h
a
r
vest t
h
e be
rr
ies - we can just
r
emove t
h
em and get
r
id of t
h
em.” he added: “We know t
h
at
t
h
is pest is difficult to cont
r
ol andwe a
r
e not going to cont
r
ol
it wit
h
any one of t
h
esemec
h
anisms. T
h
e
r
e’s got tobe an
integ
r
ated systemw
h
e
r
ebywe a
r
e
r
elying on some, o
r
all, of
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