South African Avocado Growers ’ Association Yearbook 1997. 20:74-77 Can More Intensive Plantings of Avocado Orchards be Maintained?

For various economic advantages more intensive plantings of 400 or more trees per hectare are gaining favour It was previously speculated that the removal of trees at an early age (five to seven years) when encroachment occurs, is an indefensible action. As an alternative it was suggested that orchard orientation and layout be adapted and that trees be trained to a pyramidal shape. In this way the removal of trees will hopefully be eliminated or at least delayed for as long as possible. In this paper the results thus far obtained will be discussed. The degree of success achieved with the shaping of trees to a pyramidal form will also be discussed. Techniques and rules to be followed will briefly be explained. Preliminary results with regard to yields will be given. Although a lot of attention is given to ways of curbing plant vigour at certain periods, a great deal of experience has been gained with regard to avocado tree manipulation. Future research will concentrate still further on early fruiting, control of plant vigour, regulating yield and improving fruit quality. A more efficient avocado tree is the ultimate aim. The use of bio-regulators to overcome some of these problems will be tested. Initial results showed that more work on the timing and the concentrations of these bio-regulators needs to be done. Trials to rejuvenate encroached and inefficient older trees, have provided many positive results and are presently being expanded