 | | Current conditions
The days are getting noticeably longer now but it’s a very challenging time of the year. For example last week we had a night in the east with very high winds, temperatures dropping fast overnight and a partially clear sky in the morning. You could directly see it in the plants that morning. They were showing traditional signs of root pressure (twisting leafs/ upper stems). Some of the greenhouses had heating programs that did not allow the plants to come up to temperature slow enough. In that situation there was a very hot pipe trying to make the step up to the day temperature in a short period of time. In conditions like this you have potential for soft stretchy growth.
Of course this time of the year will also bring some periods of warm, low light days. Careful on these days to make sure your pipe temperature does not drop down too much. Keep the pipe in to activate the plants. Consider in this situation to move the start of your preN later in the day. So instead of going down with the temperature at 3.15 pm (when the sun is losing its energy), keep the afternoon temperature going till 4.30 pm. This will keep the plant more active. When there has been no sun that day, it’s not worth having a cold preN too early in the afternoon. Less preN and more afternoon boost helps to keep the speed.
In between fruit sets
Baselga growers are considering what to do between the first and second sets of fruit. As we have been saying all along - keep the speed in your plants. And this still holds true. You have another advantage with Baselga - it easily gives the growth even after the first fruits are on. Of course this always depends on how early you set the first fruits on the plant. The growers at this stage are noticing that they are still achieving growth numbers equal to about 70% of the growth before the plant had its first fruits. So this also helps us to stay with our other focus - keep steering generatively! There is little worry with Baselga that you will slow the plant too much with those early fruits – so keep the temperature settings for speed to ensure the growth but at the same time keep using all the generative tools you have available. Normally Baselga is ready to set again after 2 or 3 empty nodes.
For the growers in the west with more than 1 fruit per stem set low on the plant, we recommend pruning out the second fruit. Give it some time so that you can do a good quality prune if necessary. By keeping only one fruit per stem, you will ensure that the second set will be bigger and the speed will stay in the plant. If you are worried in this situation about too much growth, remember you can always speed up the plant with temperature.
On later plantings (setting the first flowers) we still advise to work with the irrigation as a generative tool. But be careful now if you have the first fruits on the plant. Your irrigation should not be used as much as a steering tool anymore. Those fruits need the water and easy access to it. They will also eat up the fertilizer fast, so keep the feed EC high enough. 35% drain is being achieved in crops at this stage of development.
Keep in mind that the first set can sometimes be easier because the flowers were made at the plant raiser. The second set of fruit will be from flowers you have made. So do your best to make good quality flowers.
A reminder
Generative steering is not only for setting. Keeping a generative plant when fruits are on will help build a healthy plant for the future. The type of plant you build at this time in the season will determine in part the health of the plant later in the season. For example, disease resistance will be better when the plant was steered generative in the early stages. Some areas have very vegetative growing conditions in the summer, so do what you can now for steering.
The variety descriptions, sowing, planting and harvesting dates and growing advices in our catalogues, leaflets and letters or communicated in any other way, have been composed in good faith and as precisely as possible, based on the experiences in trials and practice. However, final results of a crop depend on various factors such as local conditions. Rijk Zwaan cannot, under any circumstances, be held responsible for the results of the crop of any customer. | |