We spoke with Carlos Tapia, a specialist advisor in cherry production, Founder and Technical Director of Avium, and with Héctor García, Co-founder and General Manager of Laboratorios Diagnofruit, who gave their recommendations.
The recent rainfall and subsequent flooding that affected central Chile have undoubtedly shown how susceptible certain areas can be to the ravages of nature; entire cities were left under water and, in turn, numerous orchards of different species ended up becoming veritable rivers.
Water, which has been in short supply in the central region for over a decade, was the protagonist of a complex situation: flooded cherry orchards and a series of questions that arose as the water advanced and advanced.
What to do after the flood? Is it possible to save a cherry orchard that was under 1.5 meters of water in some areas, or that was left with its roots exposed?
“First of all, support for producers who are in this extremely complicated situation. The record we have in some cases is quite terrifying and very regrettable. We as a team have drafted a very simple document, with 5-6 points, which are the basis for dealing with this situation. The first point is to clean up the orchard. There is garbage, plant waste, and river debris. There are irrigation lines that will probably have to be done or undergo major maintenance. That is the first thing.” said Carlos Tapia.
The floods generated two scenarios at ground level in the orchards: the first, plants that were left with their roots exposed, as a result of the water dragging them, and the second, orchards that were flooded, with soils several centimeters higher than before the climatic event.
“In the first case, you have to cover those roots again, you have to mulch them so that those roots do not dehydrate, do not get exposed and do not die, and the plant stays alive. In the other situation, where new soil was left over the old, probably quite a bit higher than the original level, my recommendation for that is to oxygenate the necks, open an ornamental cup, but it does not make much sense to remove all that soil that was dragged there, it is practically impossible,” Tapia added.
Phytosanitary problems
One of the major concerns at this time of year is phytosanitary problems in orchards, an issue that became even more relevant after the floods. Héctor García, Co-founder and General Manager of Laboratorios Diagnofruit, agrees with Tapia on the need to clean the orchard, as one of the first tasks to be carried out after the climatic event.
“We have been looking at the situation, today we have to try to clean the orchards, it is not an easy task, probably expensive, because there are some that are like poinsettia trees, they are full of residues and that prevents any application you want to make from reaching the wounds; today, probably the most risky thing is that the remains that circulated through the water have generated wounds in the wood, we have even seen that the water carried away buds, so it is full of wounds, mainly wood fungi can enter through there, if there is a temperature peak the bacteria will create their breeding ground, but I don’t get much out of going to apply, so you have to do that work first, evaluate, clean”, Garcia explained.
Should the phytosanitary program be modified due to flooding? Carlos Tapia, a specialist advisor on cherry production, answers this question: “With regard to the phytosanitary program, in special situations of complexity we should perhaps incorporate some biological fungicide to the winter applications, apart from the copper applications that are normally made; and lastly, we have to do new soil analyses in this type of orchards, the soil is different, it has changed completely, so we have to see what our soil is like and how we are going to rearrange the soil programs that we had pre-established.”
These analyses must be carried out between now and August, in order to reformulate, if necessary, the soil programmes that are due to start in the first weeks of October.
Regarding the applications required by cherry orchards after flooding, Hector Garcia also provided recommendations: “Today we are recommending starting with coppers and making some applications with broad spectrum fungicides, which serve to lower the total inoculum load; then we have to keep looking, phytophtora may appear in some cases, these fungi are soil fungi and if there is a lot of water flowing around they find their moment, although they are not winter fungi, but today we do not know the weather, because there are days that are very mild; we have to be attentive, monitoring, watching the necks. If you cannot enter with the tractor, you have to spray with backpack sprayers and what is necessary is to use a spray gun to spray the fungus. phytophthora It is a little more complex, we will continue to look at it, because getting to the control there requires other things, but for now, covering wounds above all, seeing if the plants have bent, we have to go and observe and make direct applications eventually, it can be paint too, helping to heal so that these fungi and bacteria do not penetrate, that is the most urgent thing," concluded Hector Garcia.
Both specialists recommend doing a complete analysis of the orchard, considering that each case is different; making a list of priorities and resolving each one of them, keeping in mind their level of urgency, in view of the next cherry season.
