It’s on its way – spring that is. And, all those busy activities we’ve been building for during autumn and winter months.

So it’s time to get going with implementing your nutrition programme, to start getting ready for the flowering months. It’s also time to inspect trees for any phytophthora issues and consider an injection round. Also check for drainage and re-sow those worn grass cover areas.

And make sure you enjoy spring – the early mornings maybe still refreshingly cold but the later sunsets and warmth of the days are magic.

For avocado growers this time is all about looking forward to the next 12 months. It’s when we start getting busy for the growing season. While we aren’t in maximum growth, trees are still growing and are starting to build the head of stem for spring/summer months.

You need to focus on getting jobs done early. Get fertiliser on, crops sprayed, pests under control, pruning completed, and weeds under control. A good plan will set things up well and help get jobs done on time.

We bring more labour on at this time of the year and it appears the industry is going to move their harvesting programme earlier. 

Injecting plays an important role at this time. Injecting in August will help push a nice spring growth.  It’s this growth we want just after flowering and before mid-January. We don’t want the growth to be too strong, but we want it to be more than 300mm long.

Increasing potassium levels prior to flowering will help flower strength. And it’s important to have good boron levels. As an industry we have tended to move away from boron spraying in spring, relying more on ground and soil levels.

However, boron is easily leached and if you feel you’ve had a wet winter and already have low boron levels, consider foliar spraying. Talk to your technical rep at your horticulture goods supplier to check compatibly as this mineral can be sensitive to it.