Effects of Fertiactyl on Frost Damage in Orchards

Frost damage in orchards has been all the talk this year. With many nights dipping below -2°C this spring, growers have started to notice how these frost events have wreaked havok in their fields, observing pistil damage in the flowers. Frost damage looks like brown edging, curled and shrunken leaves, as shown below.

 

Ontario spring can almost always have late, cool evenings well into May. Timac Agro Canada has spent two years looking for a solution to help mitigate the effects of these frost events, and it looks like Fertiactyl is our answer. A customer had used it last season and noticed a big difference in his orchard, so wanted to replicate those results again in 2021. Our Agronomic Technical Consultants (ATC’s) found other growers with similar concerns and put together three trials throughout the province.

The results really speak for themselves. In both trials, multiple blooms were sampled and frost damage was counted, resulting in 14% and 15% reduction in frost damaged buds.

The reports below outline the work done and show more visual differences. Take a look, and if you would like more information feel free to contact our Ontario Business Unit Manager at corinna.ward@ca.timacagro.com. Your email will be passed along to the ATC in your area who would be happy to work with you on improving different parameters in your orchard production.

 

Orchard frost counts Heather Hayko 2021-05-14

Orchard frost counts Tom MacIntosh 2021-05-14