Summerfruit growers in Hawke’s Bay and Central Otago can learn first hand about the benefits of understory planting at field walks next month.
Hosted by Summerfruit NZ, the field walks will showcase to growers the benefits of understory planting and will provide attendees with useful tools to evaluate biodiversity in their orchards. The events will help extend knowledge from the Summerfruit NZ-A Lighter Touch understory planting project, which aims to enhance orchard biodiversity to support pest control and improve soil health.
Bioeconomy Science Institute (BSI), Plant & Food Research group’s Kate Colhoun and colleague Bernie Attfield with sweep nets in the orchard understory.
The field walks will involve three practical components, starting with a discussion about the understory plants, including the benefits they provide and their management in an orchard. A visual soil assessment will be demonstrated, as well as how to interpret the results. The final session will focus on beneficial insects, including how to sample and identify for them, and the role they play in helping with pest management in the orchard.
Staff from the Bioeconomy Science Institute (BSI), Plant & Food Research group, will lead sessions on scouting and identification of beneficial insects and understory plants. Each field walk will run for about two hours and will be held on:
- Hawke’s Bay: 18 November, 1-3pm; and
- Central Otago: 12 November, 1-3pm.
Euan White (on left) and Stephen Ogden project tehnical advisor conducting a visual soil assessment.
Find more information on the understory field walks on the event listing here.
Read more about the project here.
