Seven years of validation support the effects of Syncron on cherry trees, a natural biostimulant product to synchronize budding. An alternative to consider in the face of the complex cherry season that is approaching.
Chile exported 356,385 thousand tons of cherries in the recent season and this figure is expected to rise to more than 445 thousand tons, which, once again, presents a tremendous challenge for the industry, starting with the orchards and all the agronomic management that this entails.
With a country consolidated in cherry production, being number 1 worldwide in terms of exports to China, our main market, the greatest challenge is obtaining quality fruit with stable and consistent productions. And precisely, we are in a period that is of vital importance, where management with growth regulators allows for improvements, for example, in setting, size and yield.
In this context, Syncron is presented as an excellent alternative to get out of the winter break, using milder products to break dormancy and mitigate plant stress.
“Syncron is a product that falls within the range of homogenizers, of which there are several on the market. I would dare to say that the main characteristic of Syncron itself is that it is a much more friendly molecule. The beauty of Syncron is that it goes hand in hand with biostimulation, it is an organic product and it has many amino acids within its complex, some products that come from various extracts, but it must be supplemented with Calcium Nitrate to achieve a better final result.” explains Matías Vallejos, Technical Manager Tattersall Agroinsumos.
Although this type of product does not have the same effect as Hydrogenated Cyanamide, in terms of the power to advance a harvest, it allows for an optimal end to the winter break and the synchronization and uniformity of the phenological states of sprouting, flowering, setting and harvest.
“Syncron is a homogenizer, as such, that should be applied during the winter break, until approximately 30 days before budding; the application technique is varied and depends greatly on the area where the plantation is located and will also depend on climatic factors, for example, I would not dare to apply it in advance if I have a problem with frost in the area,” Vallejos explains.
This 2023, the Chinese New Year, a date that marks a before and after in the prices of cherries exported to the Asian giant, will be celebrated on January 26, 10 days earlier than in 2022, where there were already complications for producers. Many today are considering bringing forward their harvests.
“Let’s talk about direct techniques. Normally, when someone tries to work to speed up the budding of a cherry tree, what they do for a commercial rather than a technical objective is to create a tandem effect, in which they apply Cyanamide to the cherries and then 7-10 days later they apply a homogenizer such as Syncron. We use a lower dose than other products in the industry, which makes us very competitive. We use Syncron at 2%, but since our molecule is organic and has no nitrogen attached to the molecule, we must replace it with a higher dose of Calcium Nitrate. Therefore, the full dose is 2% of Syncron or 2 liters of Syncron in 100 liters of water, plus 12% of Calcium Nitrate or 12 kilos of Calcium Nitrate in 100 liters of water.” says Technical Manager Tattersall Agroinsumos.
Matías Vallejos also referred to the specific moments of application of this homogenizer.
“Application times can be in tandem with Cyanamide, which is what achieves the greatest advance in sprouting, replacing Cyanamide on the same dates as Cyanamide, or it can also be used alone to homogenize, getting as close as possible to those 30 days before sprouting; we have made applications from the end of July, beginning of August until very close to August 20 and we have not had any problems,” Vallejos explains.
It is important to note that for the application of any dormancy breaker, at least 70 percent of the accumulation of cold hours must have been met, according to the requirements of each variety.
“We all know that cyanamide has the capacity to replace a certain amount of cold hours, we talk about 25 percent more or less of cold hours, after that we can apply cyanamide; for homogenizers, we must keep in mind that these do not have the capacity to make up for the lack of cold hours, so we must delay the use of Syncron so that a greater amount of cold hours is fulfilled, that is, if we have a year of poor cold hours, we must delay the application so that we can reach, hopefully, 20, 18 or 15 percent of lack of cold hours,” warns Technical Manager Tattersall Agroinsumos.
Machine calibration is also important to achieve a homogenized application; wetting is also very important.
“For the use of Syncron in the middle of winter recess, you will not be occupying the total wetting of a canopy, therefore you can perfectly wet the 75% of the volume of the canopy, that is, if in a normal wetting of use I am using 1,000 liters to make it easy, I can perfectly wet with 750-800 liters; these products are expensive, the main saving that exists in their use is not manipulating or earning a dollar more or less in the price of the product, it is achieving an optimal wetting of our trees, because that is where you can save USD 100-150 dollars per hectare”, indicates the Technical Manager of Tattersall Agroinsumos.
Seven years of validation in cherry trees support the effects of Syncron, a natural substance with a biostimulant action for budding.
“With Avium we have carried out trials from the beginning with Syncron, we have done many trials; the story began by doing a dose screening, of product use, with the recommendation that came from the manufacturer and testing it here in Chile, what was the normal dose to use. We started by doing different doses of Syncron, different doses of Calcium Nitrate and finally reaching a conclusion that the most optimal dose to use was 2% of Syncron plus 12 % of Calcium Nitrate. Then we began to test Syncron earlier, later, in early, medium, late areas, in different varieties of cherries, to be able to learn over the years how it works. Normally with Syncron, we are doing 3 or 4 different trials with Avium to test how it works,” Vallejos explains.
The results of the research have made it possible to understand how and when Syncron should be applied and the effects it has depending on the area or method of application.
“This has led us to know that in order to advance Syncron, it is necessary to do it with the tandem, as much as possible; Syncron alone advances but not as much as the tandem, but rather as a cyanamide alone, but homogenization can also be achieved in late areas, in a late Regina, in a Kordia, and we delay this as much as possible, approaching 30 days before budding, we managed to make applications at the end of August with very good results,” explains Technical Manager Tattersall Agroinsumos.
Another of the conclusions drawn from one of the investigations carried out by Avium is that if one seeks to advance by using Syncron, the dose of 2% of Syncron plus 12 % of Calcium Nitrate must be respected, however if the objective is only to homogenize, this can be lowered to 2% of Syncron with only 6% of Calcium Nitrate.
Syncron has proven to be an effective tool for homogenizing sprouting and generating an advance in leaf development, while improving fruit set, phytosanitary control, size and color homogenization.
