That’s because the high value crop has a short and intense production window, requiring key decisions at every growth stage from dormancy and bud break through to fruit set, harvest and post-harvest planning.
Orville Hildebrand, research and development manager and South Australian sales manager with 7 Worlds Ag, says this attention to detail rewards cherry growers with high- quality fruit with good size, colour, firmness, flavour and shelf life.
“It is also contributing to growing export demand for Australian cherries,” he said.
Orville said the cherry season in Australia typically runs from late spring into summer, but cherries are highly sensitive to weather conditions, harvest timing, handling and disease pressure.
“This means a well-planned crop protection program is a key requirement to maximise pack-outs and market returns for cherries,” he said.
“7 Worlds Ag is well positioned to assist cherry growers and their advisers, because of its unique range of plant growth regulators, fungicides, insecticides, pollination products and integrated pest management tooIs.
“These reflect our ongoing commitment to research and development, which means we continue to assess crop needs, understand the practical issues in the field and work to identify better options for key horticultural crops like cherries.”
Orville said the company’s products include options for organic certified inputs.
Focusing on integrated disease management, he explained cherries face disease risks through the season, particularly during wet weather, high humidity and vulnerable crop stages.
“It’s been a wet winter in the Adelaide Hills this year and the jury is still out on El Nino patterns, so cherry growers need to be prepared for elevated levels of blossom blight and brown rot in vulnerable crops,” Orville said.
“One of our newest products, ProBlad Verde ( BLAD ) is a unique BMO1 fungicide registered for controlling brown rot and suppressing blossom blight in stone fruit and it also holds organic certification through ACO Certification Ltd.
“This means ProBlad Verde is valuable for growers looking for softer chemistry to maintain beneficial insects over the flowering period.”
7 Worlds Ag is well recognised for its copper-based fungicides such as Coppox WG (copper oxychloride), Bordeaux WG (tri-basic copper sulph at e) and Ag Copp 750 WG (cuprous oxide) which continue to be important protectant tools against fungal diseases such as shothole and bacterial canker.
Advancing maturity
“We are looking into options to bring the cherry harvest forward in some varieties to capture the more lucrative pre-christmas market,” he said.
“ By mixing ProBlad Verde with Bee-Scent, we are investigating the potential to control blossom blight and enhancing pollination in one application, especially under cool, wet conditions that can result in low bee activity and increased disease pressure.”
Bee-Scent contains an attractant and a foraging pheromone to attract bees and encourage pollination activity.
Application should occur on the day beehives are introduced to ensure cherry blossoms are the priority for bees.
“Bloom conditions can change quickly in cherries, so we’re looking into how supporting bee activity may help growers to produce more fruit from a narrow pollination window,” Orville said.
Plant growth regulators such as Cyan and Ambitious have a key role to play in cherry orchards when used carefully and at the correct time.
Cyan (cyanamide) can be used under permit to help break dormancy and advance bloom in cherries, to help growers manage seasonal variability, chill accumulation and bloom timing.
“We believe Cyan has a good fit in mild growing conditions when cherries don’t receive adequate chilling hours to break dormancy,” Orville said.
To increase final fruit size, 7 Worlds Ag offers Ambitious 10 SL (forchlorfenuron), recognising that timing, crop stage and accurate application are particularly important when using PGRs to enhance fruit size.
The window for Ambitious is from green fruit stage to straw fruit colour.
Turning to integrated pest management (IPM), Orville reminded growers insect pressure can quickly affect fruit quality, crop health and marketability, so monitoring and timely action are key tasks throughout the season.
“Where appropriate, growers should consider the use of sticky traps, lures and mating disruption phermones for key insect pests in the orchard to favour the survival of beneficial insects,” he said.
“One of the newer additions to the 7 Worlds Ag product range is Iceman 240 SC (tau-fluvalinate) which is registered for the control of plague thrips in cherries, which can be damaging at sensitive crop stages.
“We also offer SpinoSec 240 SC (spinosad) which controls a range of insect pests in cherries including cherry slug, lightbrown apple moth, western flower thrip and oriental fruit moth.
“SpinoSec also has organic certification through ACO Certification Ltd, giving growers another option for certified organic inputs.”
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