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Morning All,
The Riverland should have enough chill to get all almond varieties into flower at the end of this week. We have had a warmer break in the past week which has been enough for those areas to start creating bud movement. However, and this year has not been one that has been in anyway close to be being close, the forecast for most locations should be in the 10-12RCU/day with maximums of 18C. It is the 21C +days that get warmth into the soil to start root and bud movement.
From having a very unseasonally warm weekend in the Riverland and looking at bud movement:
- Pink bud in Stella cherries (no dormancy breakers applied), I am doubting that these will set;
- Buds dropping off in almonds in a re-shake;
- Woolly bud in other crops;
- Bud movement in pomegranates;
- Guava's yet to drop leave
This year has all the indications of an early bud break so the timing of dormancy breakers in terms of time and rate will need to be closely monitored. The closer to anticipated bud break the lower the application rate to be considered.
For comparative purposes Griffith is normally higher in chill than Swan Hill, so I am expecting to see phenology in Griffith being very much outside the norm of most seasons. These higher chill crops in this season are likely to be later than normal and once the days get longer varieties with different fruit and leaf bud RCU will see different expression once the season breaks properly.
Regards,
Shane Phillips | Head Chemist - Research & Development
E: shane.phillips@biocentral-labs.com
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