Assuring Quality Fruit Part 2
Assuring Quality Fruit Part 2. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.
So far this fruit growing season things have been proceeding on a very positive note with lots of fruit and good weather conditions. Byron Phillips, Sales Rep with Valent
PHILLIPS: So we’ve been getting Maxcel out which is a cytokine which I increases fruit size as well as does a little bit of chemical thinning post bloom and for once this year we just had ideal weather conditions for Maxcel to work.
Many of the growing areas have been getting fantastic spring weather but Phillips says if you are going to use Maxcel, don’t wait.
PHILLIPS: The further out from bloom and the larger the fruit gets the less effect anything will have including Maxcel. Optimum timing for Maxcel is when your king bloom fruitlets are 10 – 12mm in size although it does have an effective window of timing of 5 to 15mm and occasionally we have seen results clear out to 20mm fruitlet size.
Getting good size is important but so is firmness.
PHILLIPS: Consumers have come to expect particularly with some of these Canadian varieties, they’ve come to expect a large cherry that has that firmness and that crunch and so if you end up producing a small soft cherry it - I would bet you that a lot of packing houses won’t even pack it if it’s small and soft.
For more information on Maxcel and other Valent products, see your local sales rep.
That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
