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Orchard Drainage Field Day – Hawke’s Bay 15th August

On Thursday 15th August, we visited Evenden and Red Barn orchards to view the Smart Tools for Orchard Drainage trial blocks.

A few months have now passed since the various drainage treatments were implemented in the trial areas – the soil has settled and the grass is beginning to establish in the interrows.

A group of growers arrived to see the different treatments which we will continue to track to monitor their effectiveness and longevity. One of the main tools we are using is the RutMeter we developed for the project.

The RutMeter automatically measures rut depth and records the location using SBAS GPS for accuracy

After several months, regrassing, pruning and mulching, inter-row 1-2 is looking pretty good. By minimising soil movement during levelling, there is only a small rise/drop between the inter-row and the undertree row ground level.

The inter-row between rows 1 and 2 several months after levelling. been regrassed, then after pruning the branches were mulched. A few weeks for regrowth and the surface should be looking green again

Very good discussion among the growers covered the different treatments, how they affected orchard operations (especially use of hydraladas) and what future remediation they thought would be needed.

Orchard managers are happy with results to date. They think there may need to be work later after wet periods, but the foundation for better surface drainage in in place.

Many thanks to T&G and Bostocks for hosting the trials and the field walks. And project funders, MPIU SFF and NZ Apples and Pears Inc.