FRUIT PRODUCTION -TEMPERATE CLIMATE BHT218

COURSE STRUCTURE
There are 8 lessons as follows:

1. Introduction to Temperate Fruit Growing
   • Deciding What to Grow
   • Crop Selection Criteria
   • Options of Types of Fruits: Citrus, Berries, Vine Fruits, Pome Fruits, Stone Fruits, Nuts, etc
   • The Botany of a Fruit and Fruit Development
   • The Flower and Inflorescence
   • Types of Fruit: simple, aggregate, multiple
   • Modification of Fruits
   • How Seed Forms, Buds
   • Terminology
   • Morphological Changes in Plants
2. Establishing an Orchard
   • Considerations when Establishing an Orchard
   • Site Selection; size, location, climate, water, pest and disease exposure, etc
   • Calculating Effective Rainfall
   • Drawing an Orchard Plan
3. General Cultural Practices
   • Understanding Soils
   • Physical Soil Characteristics; soil texture, structure, etc
   • Chemical Characteristics of Soil; pH, Nutrition
   • Soil Water
   • Simple Soil Tests
   • Dealing with Fruit Tree Problems
   • Identifying a Problem
   • Pests; chewing insects, sucking insects, other pests, birds
   • Diseases; fungal, virus, bacterial
   • Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
   • Chemical Pest Control
   • Non Chemical Pest Control
   • Common Environmental Problems
   • Staking Plants, Cages and tree guards
   • Weed Control
   • Nutrition and Plant Feeding
   • Pruning Fruit Trees
   • Pruning Systems
   • Water, Drainage andIrrigation
4. Tree Fruits
   • Deciduous Fruit Trees
   • Winter Chilling Requirements
   • Climate Needs
   • Choosing Varieties
   • Pollination Needs
   • Growing Apples
   • Apricot
   • Cherry
   • Fig
   • Loquat
   • Asian Pear or Nashi
   • Olive
   • Peach and Nectarine
   • Pear, Plum
   • Pepino, Pomegranate, Quince, Tree Tomato
   • Using Compost
5. Vines, Nuts and Berries
   • Nut Growing Introduction
   • Walnut Culture
   • Chestnut, Almond, Macadamia, Pecan, American Hazlenut, Filbert, etc
   • Passionfruit Culture
   • Chinese Gooseberry
   • Grape Cultivation
   • Overview of Berry Fruit Growing
   • Strawberry Growing
   • Raspberry, Cape Gooseberry, Mulberry, Blueberry, Elderberry, Currants, Cranberry, Brambles
6. Citrus
   • Introduction to Citrus Culture
   • Overview of Species
   • Temperature Tolerance
   • Culture and Planting Citrus
   • Citrus Problems and treatments
   • Citrus Directory; review of main types
7. Cultural Management of a Fruit Plantation or Orchard
   • Developing a Maintenance Program
   • The Production Plan
   • Producing a Flow Chart (Timetable) for a crop
8. Marketing Your Produce
   • Introduction
   • Marketing Options
   • Conducting Market Research
   • Standards; quality, quantity, cost efficiency
   • Sales Price
   • Example of Harvest and Post Harvest treatment of a Crop

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

AIMS

• Identify different types of fruit crops, which can be successfully grown in the learner's region.
• Explain the nature of the fruit industry in the learner's region (locality).
• Determine the cultural requirements for different fruit crops.
• Develop a plan for the establishment of an orchard.
• Formulate appropriate methods for marketing specific fruit crops grown in the learner's locality.
• Develop a calendar for cultural management of a fruit plantation, or orchard.

• Compile a resource file of different sources of information regarding commercial fruit varieties.
• Compare the facilities used to produce different fruit crops, for a specified locality.
• Determine criteria for selecting a fruit variety to grow as a commercial crop,
• Select different fruit varieties with commercial potential for a specified location.
• Analyse the physical layout of a specified orchard.
• Determine the scope of commercial fruit growing in a specified locality.
• Demonstrate standard soil tests to three different soils to determine:
  • Soil type
  • pH
  • Drainage
  • Water holding capacity
• Evaluate the different soils tested to determine their suitability for growing different fruit varieties.
• Analyse the culture
  • Watering
  • Weed control
  • Soil management
  • Pruning
  • Fertilising
  • Pest control
  • Disease control
• Determine soil management practices, including:
  • Nutrition
  • Soil structure
  • Cultivation
  • Weed control
• Determine the susceptibility of specified fruit species to pest and disease problems.
• Explain how to control a range of different, specified pests and diseases, on different fruit varieties grown.
• Develop sets of guidelines for pruning different types of fruitin plants.
• Determine the factors which are critical to growing fruit trees in a specific locality.
• Determine criteria to select a site for fruit growing in a specific locality.
• Compare the physical layout of different orchards.
• Prepare a plan for establishing a fruit growing area, i including:
  • Concept layout plan drawn to scale
  • Materials list (including plants)
  • Cost estimates for establishment.
• Analyse different marketing systems in the fruit industry, including at local, national and international levels.
• Explain common reasons for price fluctuations in the fruit industry.
• Compare different fruit crops in relation to different factors, including:
  • Storage requirements
  • Storage life
  • Harvesting time
  • Shelf life
  • Transport to market
• Evaluate the presentation and packaging of three different fruits, for marketing through different marketing systems.
• Analyse different marketing strategies used by a specific fruit grower.
• Develop a marketing strategy, including:
  • Marketing stages
  • Marketing schedule (ie. timetable)
  • Estimated marketing costs
  • Handling procedures
  • Promotions, for a specific fruit crop.
• Differentiate between the cultural practices undertaken by different growers, on the same crop, grown in different localities.
• Determine the cultural practices necessary to grow different fruit crops for a twelve month period, on a specified site.
• Prepare a monthly calender, covering a twelve month period, for cultural practices in a fruit plantation or orchard.

Duration 100 hours

Extract from Course Notes

Climate Considerations
All plants are adapted to particular climatic conditions. To get the best out of your plants in terms of both quantity and quality you need to choose a site that provides conditions best suited to the particular plants you are growing, or if you already have a site choose plants that suit the site. Alternatively you can modify the site in some way to alter conditions to make them more suitable for your plants, for example build dams to provide additional water for irrigation, or grow windbreaks.

In many countries climatic data is often readily available, for example the Bureau of Meteorology in Australia provides climatic data in a variety of forms for most of the continent that can be easily used to determine growing conditions at potential fruit growing sites.

Temperature
All plants have a range of temperatures in which they will grow. Within this range is an optimum range where the plants will give their best results. For example a particular plant may grow within the range 4 - 35ºC (39-95ºF) with an optimum range of 15-25º C. (59-77ºF) Maximum temperatures at a potential site are generally not as critical as minimum temperatures. At high temperatures plants may slow their growth to reduce water loss, whereas at low temperatures the plants may cease growth or even die. As temperatures can vary quite significantly, not only from season to season, but also from day to night, it is important to consider the annual temperature cycle for each potential fruit growing site. Tables or maps that indicate the average maximum and minimum temperatures for each month can be easily used to determine the potential growing season for different plants at that site.

Frosts
Frosts can cause major damage to plants. Plants recently removed from protected conditions, such as in a greenhouse or shade house, have generally not had enough time to "harden up" and are therefore even more easily damaged by frost. Frost frequency depends on location and on local topography. Frost conditions are most likely to occur on clear cold nights, with little or no wind, at inland sites or at higher altitudes. It is least likely to occur in slightly elevated coastal areas, particularly where it is windy. The likelihood of frost occurrence can be readily established from climatic records, and from talking to locals.

Rainfall
One of the major limiting factors determining what you grow in any particular site is the rainfall the site receives. Deficiencies in rainfall can in many cases be offset by irrigation from alternative sources of water, however if these sources are not available, or if the cost to supply the irrigation water is prohibitive then you need to choose a site that provides sufficient natural rainfall for your plants. There are four major points to consider regarding rainfall. These are:-

* Distribution - This refers to when the rain falls. 25mm (an inch) of rainfall in a normally moist site during winter conditions will not have the same significance as the same amount falling in a normally drier site, or in summer.

* Variability - Some areas have very consistent rainfall, others do not. Two sites may have the same average annual rainfall, but there may be quite different variation around that average at each site. For example, each site may have an average annual rainfall of 1000mm (39inches) but one may vary between 250 (10inches) and 2000mm (78inches) from year to year, while the other may only vary between 750 and 1300mm (30-69inches) from year to year.

*Frequency - This is a measure of how often it rains, and can be important in determining the size of water storages. For example where there is a large interval between periods of rain then water storages (e.g. farm tanks) will have to be larger than for sites where rain falls frequently.

*Intensity - This is the total rainfall annual divided by the number of wet days (days exceeding 0.2mm of rain). This is very important in terms of runoff. In areas of high intensity rainfall runoff is generally high, and consequently the % of water infiltrating into the soil is low in comparison to areas with low intensity rainfall. Erosion can be a major problem in high intensity rainfall areas, while getting sufficient runoff to boost water storages can be a problem in low intensity areas.

Evaporation
Evaporation is the loss of water as water vapour. It increases as temperatures increase, humidity drops and winds increase. It can be measured by determining the amount of water evaporated from a free water surface exposed in a pan. In countries, such as Australia, where surface water storage is extremely important for agricultural purposes, evaporation is very significant. As with other climatic data maps or tables of evaporation data are generally readily available.

Effective rainfall
Perhaps the most important climatic parameter that determines the growing season at a particular site is 'Effective Rainfall'. This can be defined as the rainfall over a certain period (e.g. month) minus the soil evaporation (equivalent to approximately one third of pan evaporation figures) during the same period. Positive figures indicate that soil moisture is increasing, or in other words the amount of rainfall received in that period exceeded the amount of water lost by evaporation. Negative figures indicate that evaporation has exceeded rainfall and that the soil is drying up. The number of months in succession in which rainfall exceeds evaporation (as long as temperature isn't a limiting factor) determines the growing season of a particular site.

Wind
Wind is important to plant growth in a number of ways the stronger the wind the greater the amount of evaporation. Strong winds can physically damage plants and facilities (e.g. sheds). Slight winds on cold clear nights help prevent frosts occurring. Sites subject to regular strong or gusty winds, hot dry winds, or very cold winds should be avoided unless the site can be readily modified, for example by wind breaks, or protective structures such as greenhouses.

Extreme hazards
Is the area subject to hail, snowfalls, thunderstorms, lighting or fires? These may be infrequent, but they can do a lot of damage to both plants and the property facilities themselves.

Microclimates
These occur when local conditions modify the climate in some way from the general overall climatic conditions of the area. For example trees provide shade & maybe frost or sun protection, but can restrict light and reduce growth rates (an advantage with some and disadvantage with other plants).

REASONS TO STUDY WITH ACS DISTANCE EDUCATION

• Reputation:
    -teaching Horticulture since 1979
    -exceptional faculty staff (see below)
• Hands on: develop practical as well as theoretical skills
• Uniqueness:
    -successful people are always those who can offer a skill or service that others can't
    -this course is different; our graduates have different skills to set them apart.
• Relevance -curriculum developed in response to industry needs
• Lots of help: personal, prompt attention from tutors
• Holistic Courses: We teach more than just "facts"
    -success is only 20% about intelligence (and what you know)
    -you also need to build networking, problem solving & communication skills, and more!
    -this course helps you develop all of these things and more
• Value: courses compare very favorably on a cost per study hour basis
• Up to date: courses under constant review
• Student amenities: This school is backed by over one of the most unique and comprehensive private collections of intellectual property in the horticultural industry. The principal and staff have written and published over 50 books and 150 gardening magazines, as well as 20,000 hours horticultural study programs. A team of 5 horticultural writers continue to develop and update new material continually. These resources together with web sites, an online student room, social media etc. provide a unique and comprehensive facility to support students studying with the school.

Marie Beerman  B.Sc., M.Hort.