“Entering the winter break with a healthy orchard and coming out of dormancy with low pathogen loads will help us to have a more optimal development of our orchard,” explains Thomas Kroneberg, southern zonal technician for Tavan Chile, who gives his recommendations for this stage.
It is important to maintain the health of a cherry orchard after harvest for several reasons. One of them is disease prevention. After harvest, cherry trees can be more susceptible to a variety of diseases, including those caused by wood fungi and bacteria.
By keeping your orchard healthy, you reduce the chances of these diseases spreading and affecting your trees or future crops. By taking care of health, you ensure that your cherry trees will produce quality fruit in the next season.
This in turn ensures the long-term sustainability of the garden, as a healthy garden is capable of offering greater productivity and profitability.
Thomas Kroneberg, southern regional technician for Tavan Chile, explains this in detail and gives recommendations to implement during this stage.
-What condition are the orchards in after the harvest?
-“At harvest time, the plant suffers damage or wounds from ladders used, leaf shedding, stings, among others. Due to this, the plant is left with a high level of stress, which makes it susceptible to the entry of external pathogens. At the same time, not all the fruit is harvested, therefore, we must take preventive phytosanitary measures and thus minimize the spread of fungi and insects harmful to our orchard.”
-Why is it important to care about health at this stage?
-“This year we are facing one of the most complex seasons for agriculture, therefore, we must reinforce the measures to be able to mitigate the adverse effects of this second semester marked by spring rains and lack of cold hours. For example, damage by viruses, late pseudomonas and proliferation of wood fungi were observed in different areas of the country. Due to this, it is important to be able to carry out the corresponding applications in post-harvest and, in this way, enter the recess with a healthy orchard.
At the same time, during this period we must minimize the proliferation of these diseases, which take advantage of damage to the crop to enter the plant. It is important to carry out sanitary pruning and subsequent removal of infected material, to avoid infection and spread to the rest of the orchard.”
-How does proper post-harvest management benefit the orchard?
-“Adequate post-harvest sanitary management allows us to reduce the bacterial load for the next season, in addition to comprehensive management of wood fungi and bacteria. Entering the winter break with a healthy orchard and coming out of dormancy with low pathogen loads will help us to have a more optimal development of our orchard.”
-Apart from health, what other factors should producers worry about after the harvest?
-“We must take into account the replenishment of nutrients that the plant needed to develop the fruit and thus prepare the orchard for the following season. Carry out summer pruning, to provide light to trees with great vigor. Consider applying sunscreen, due to the high temperatures of this season. And do not neglect irrigation, since adequate water replacement is essential to replenish the orchard after the harvest.”
-What does Tavan Chile recommend applying in post-harvest for health?
-“For post-harvest health we have the BACTOFUS + V6 strategy. This is broad spectrum, activates the plant's defenses and, due to its systemic action, allows us to cut the bacteria cycles. We can combine this product with mancozeb, captan or benomyl to further reinforce the effect on wood fungi.
V6 acts as an enzymatic catalyst for the plant, improving budding and flowering at the end of the winter break. This occurs because we increase sap mobility and the accumulation of reserves in the plant.
After the harvest, comes the second root flash of the season, where we must have soil in good sanitary and physical conditions, and thus complement a good accumulation of reserves. For this, we have AXION FULL, a bactericide and fungicide, which allows us to have optimal soil health and to improve structure, root growth and nutrient absorption we have OXI ROOT and TAVAN ROOT.”
-How does each product mentioned work and how are they different from other treatments?
-BACTOFUS AND AXION FULL correspond to an isolate of biotoxins obtained from bacteria and fungi, with a wide power of penetration in the plant and excellent systemicity, a characteristic that explains its effectiveness on roots and lignified structures. The metabolites in both increase the SAR in the plant, generating an immediate response, such as drying of gums, healing of wounds or cankers, activation of sap flow and stimulation of growth.
-V6 promotes and increases the movement of assimilated substances from the root to the meristematic shoots, favouring leaf development without excessive expenditure of reserves. It has an immediate effect on treated plants and tissues and is ideal for use in mixtures with phytosanitary products and foliar correctors.
-OXI ROOTS is a formulation based on fulvic acids and organic matter, which aims to improve the oxygenation of the root system of plants. It activates soil microorganisms and increases the availability of nutrients for plants. It is ideal for improving the efficiency of fertilizers.
-TAVAN ROOTS is a unique product, formulated based on natural potassium sulphate, cobalt and algae extract, designed to stimulate and achieve a significant increase in root development.
