Adapting to the tough seasons

Tony’s Take on avos
with Tony Bradley
Aongatete Avocados Ltd

 Waiting for spring to arrive has been a wetter and cooler task than I expected.

It’s always good to catch up on the rain but the cooler winds that arrived in late September seem to have had an impact.

Despite saying this, avocado are flowering, with panicle extensions racing ahead in mid-September – until the chilly winds arrived. It is starting to look like a tough spring.

Temperatures may well be rising but these cool winds will be having an impact. I suggest we haven’t factored in the wind chill and the speed that the wind moves across the flower.

Wind theories

Now there will be physics and maths and other such things that say speed is an action.

Action uses energy (or displaces it) and therefore, in a similar way to making ice in frost fighting, releases energy that saves the young growth. Could wind chiller be helping prevent the flowers from cooling too much?

I don’t support this theory, but am just putting it out there for speculation. I support that wind chill, as well as hot and warm winds have an impact.

There’s no science in this statement just observation on my orchard. Hence why we grow shelterbelts, spend money of artificial shelter and other things to lessen the wind’s effect.

It has raised a few questions for me: Can we influence nature? What do we do when nature is tough on us?

I see as we travel SH2 there are a couple of blocks with avocados growing under cover. The question is: does the cover change the local environmental conditions? Think about wind water nitrification and other biological processes. Do we have plans to modify or influence the impact?

Remaining optimistic

I believe this low priced season will impact our orchards. However, the degree of that impact will vary. Thinking in terms of a silver lining… we need to work out what that silver lining is, how can we get the best from it and what we need to do – what, why, when sort of thinking.

This raises the same thread of thought I have been pushing for some time: have a plan.

When nature comes calling, having a plan gives you options. Having no options means you have to take what you’re dealt. Getting a plan in place early gives you options early.

Working through my list of spending I have listed where we spend money, put a priority of importance on these items and then assessed that list in order of long and short term impacts. Now I can form a plan on how to survive and make the best of this year.

That sounds a lot but it’s not. We do this every day but in an informal sense. Writing it down early gives us more time to adjust the outcome.

Early plans give us more time to take action.

I’m still not sure what to do about the wind but I will be looking with optimism to see the success of those covered blocks. If it’s anything like kiwifruit covered blocks there are some great benefits and also some very real challenges.

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