Morning All,
After significantly higher than average temperatures across southern Australia, the projected cold polar front is forecast to occur for the remainder of the week, which should ensure an excellent start to chill accumulation this week.
The cold front can be seen to be moving in as Mt Lofty in the Adelaide Hills recorded 19.5 RCU yesterday, all other weather stations recorded quite high levels of negative chill (Loxton -6, Griffith -21, Shepparton -12 and Swan Hill -10).
Based on the Bureau forecast, I am expecting that we will get quite good chill numbers for the rest of the week. We should see the official start of chill accumulation around 4 May 2026.
The importance of getting trees into dormancy and the resting phase is critical at this time of the year. Despite the warm weather and rainfall in March, trees are well advanced on dormancy compared to past phenological trends. With the burst of cold weather, I am expecting to see some quite significant leaf drop this week.
Weekly chill graphs will be uploaded to the AquaBoostAG website.
Regards,
Shane Phillips | Head Chemist - Research & Development
E: shane.phillips@biocentral-labs.com
Stay connected and receive updates, resources and insights - subscribe to our newsletter today.
