Bay of Plenty kiwifruit growers are staring down the barrel of another difficult growing season.
▲picking kiwi flowers
The recurrence of a warm winter poses yet another obstacle for growers whose fruit contributes to New Zealand's largest horticultural export crop.
NIWA records showed June temperatures were on average 1.4 degrees higher than normal, which so far made it one of the warmest winters in 110 years.
▲Bees pollinate kiwifruit
Bay of Plenty-based Fruition Horticulture consultant Sandy Scarrow said the winter was one of the warmest she could remember, which meant the vines were not getting the required winter chilling.
She said last year the region's kiwifruit had a poor flowering because of the warm temperatures, and this year the lack of chilling had been even worse.
▲ Kiwi Fruit Male
Scarrow said that potentially meant orchards would once again find fewer flowers were set on the canes and it had a flow-on effect throughout the season.
"We'll just have fewer flowers. If I give you an example from our orchard, typically we get 1.6 flowers per winter bud which is the key indicator of how effective the winter chill and other things you've done over winter, have been. And last year we got 1.2 flowers per winter bud, so that was a 25 percent decrease in your yield right from the start.
▲Pollen Collection獼猴桃花采集
"It also impacts on the date of bud burst. Bud burst is likely to be later, so that condenses the whole season. I've been lying awake worrying about it. We saw the impact of what happened last year, and this year growers are tying in much more winter wood so there are much more winter buds to produce those flowers, but again, that has an impact."
Scarrow said it meant the canopy would be denser and could impact on fruit quality.
▲Pollen Collection獼猴桃花采集
She said western Bay of Plenty around the Katikati area had been particularly warm, with more eastern parts around Te Puke and Paengaroa getting some lower temperatures, but the lack of winter chill was felt region wide.
Figures from kiwifruit marketer Zespri showed the 2023 crop harvested in Autumn was well down on past seasons because of a range of extreme weather events, including the warm winter, last frost, hail and Cyclone Gabrielle.
▲Making pollen from kiwifruit flowers
It expected to export about 136 million trays, a 20 percent drop on number of trays in 2022.
New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated chief executive Colin Bond said he was deeply concerned about the insufficient winter chilling, echoing the anxieties shared by fellow growers he had communicated with.
But he said if there was a cold snap in the next two weeks it should provide the winter-chill hours in time to improve flower set.
▲Winter pruning of kiwifruit orchard
Further south in rain sodden and cloud covered Hawke's Bay there was a silver lining to the conditions.
AgFirst Horticulture consultant Jonathan Brookes said such days were more preferred than cracking frosts.
"It's interesting that a lot of people think about winter chilling and think about the fantastic winter days where there's a big frost and a beautiful sunny day afterwards, but what actually ends up working best for winter chilling is low temperatures below 10 degrees, but above zero," Brookes said.
▲A kiwi orchard with abundant fruits
"So from a winter chill point of view, these horrible claggy wet days and nights that we've been having are actually adding to the winter chill".
Pip and stone fruit growers in the South Island said their winter had provided enough winter-chill hours for their crops and there should be good flower numbers in spring.
▲testing pollen
豐盛灣獼猴桃種植者正面臨另一個艱難的生長季節(jié)。
溫暖冬季的再次出現(xiàn)給種植者帶來了另一個障礙，他們的水果為新西蘭最大的園藝出口作物做出了貢獻。
NIWA的記錄顯示，6月份的平均氣溫比正常氣溫高出1.4度，這使其成為110年來最溫暖的冬天之一。
總部位于豐盛灣的Fruition園藝顧問Sandy Scarrow表示，這個冬天是她記憶中最溫暖的冬天之一，這意味著葡萄藤沒有得到所需的冬季冷卻。
她說，去年該地區(qū)的獼猴桃因氣溫升高而開花不良，今年缺乏低溫的情況更為嚴重。斯卡羅說，這可能意味著果園會再次發(fā)現(xiàn)藤條上的花朵更少，這在整個季節(jié)都會產(chǎn)生連鎖反應。
“我們只會有更少的花。如果我舉一個果園的例子，通常我們每個冬芽有1.6朵花，這是衡量冬季寒冷和你在冬季所做的其他事情有多有效的關鍵指標。去年我們每個冬蕾有1.2朵花，所以從一開始你的產(chǎn)量就下降了25%。
“這也會影響芽爆裂的日期。芽爆裂可能會晚些時候，所以整個季節(jié)都會凝結。我一直在擔心它。我們看到了去年發(fā)生的事情的影響，今年種植者正在捆綁更多的冬季木材，所以有更多的冬芽來生產(chǎn)這些花，但這再次產(chǎn)生了影響。”
斯卡羅說，這意味著樹冠會更密，可能會影響果實質量。
她說，Katikati地區(qū)周圍的豐盛灣西部特別溫暖，Te Puke和Paengaroa周圍的東部地區(qū)氣溫較低，但整個地區(qū)都感覺到冬季寒冷的缺乏。
來自獼猴桃營銷商Zespri的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，由于一系列極端天氣事件，包括暖冬、最后一場霜凍、冰雹和颶風加布里埃爾，2023年秋季收獲的獼猴桃產(chǎn)量遠低于往年。
預計將出口約1.36億個托盤，比2022年的托盤數(shù)量下降20%。
新西蘭Kiwifruit Growers Incorporated首席執(zhí)行官科林·邦德（Colin Bond）表示，他對冬季冷藏不足深感擔憂，這與他與其他種植者交流過的擔憂相呼應。
但他說，如果未來兩周出現(xiàn)寒流，它應該能及時提供冬季的寒冷時間，以改善花朵的生長。
再往南，在被雨水淋濕、云層覆蓋的霍克灣，情況還有一線希望。
AgFirst園藝顧問喬納森·布魯克斯表示，這樣的日子比霜凍更受歡迎。
布魯克斯說：“有趣的是，很多人想到了冬天的寒冷，想到了美妙的冬天，那里有一場大霜凍，之后有一個美麗的晴天，但實際上最適合冬天寒冷的是低于10度但高于零度的低溫?！薄?br />
“因此，從冬季寒冷的角度來看，我們一直在經(jīng)歷的這些可怕的濕漉漉的日日夜夜實際上加劇了冬季的寒冷?！?。
南島的皮普和核果種植者表示，他們的冬天為他們的作物提供了足夠的冬季寒冷時間，春天應該會有很多花。
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