French Cherry Trials 2001
Application of Phosyn products has given very good results on Cherries in the south east of France. A "fruit quality" programme consisting of 3 applications of Seniphos & Bortrac at 4, 8 & 12 leaves followed by 3 applications of Stopit through the fruit development phase increased overall yield and fruit size as well as improving shelf life. Picking costs were also reduced due to a more even maturity of the treated blocks.
These commercial scale trials were carried out over the 1999 and 2000 growing seasons. Overall yields were increased by 10% & 16% respectively. Increases in fruit size were observed on most varieties.
In 1999 it was noticed by personnel in the packing house that treatment improved the shelf life of fruit. In 2000 this aspect was studied in more detail. After cold storage for between 3 to 5 days, fruit was assessed over a 3 week period at ambient temperature. All treated batches of fruit showed increased shelf life. This translated into an improvement of 2 to 6 days before fruit losses reached 5%.
The net benefits from application of Phosyn products were estimated to be 21281 FF/ha in 1999 and 10268 FF/ha in 2000 (10 FF = £1 approx).
Author: John Brooks, France
Published: April 2001