Apple orchard

Revitalise your orchard – the use of Sili-Fert P for next-level apple quality

The fruit sector experiences a huge amount of pressure due to the limitation of most plant protection products and climate change creating more stress for the trees. A theme that is commonly put forward in light of this, is plant resilience and how to increase it. Silicon and other micronutrients are increasingly recognised as stress-reducing compounds, and Roam Technology’s silicon based biostimulant Sili-Fert P fits perfectly in this story.

The challenge

Plants experience stress at almost every moment, either caused by pathogens or by abiotic factors. Reducing it, is very important to optimise fruit yield and quality. Our foliar biostimulant Sili-Fert P can help achieve this and was therefore tested in this case at an apple grower in the Netherlands.

Apple orchard 2

Our solution

We performed this trial on 6-year-old apple trees from the variety Junami. We tested Silifert-P on 1 ha, next to 1 ha control area where no Sili-Fert P was used. The team applied a tailor-made spray application scheme, incorporating Sili-Fert P only when other products were sprayed. This allowed the grower to avoid separate applications and thereby save time.

Firstly, these spray applications resulted in an increased hardness of the apples (Fig. 1). Moreover, the yield was higher after Sili-Fert P treatment, resulting in only 2 harvest moments compared to 3 in the untreated area (Fig. 2). It is a huge advancement for the growers’ time management.

Additionally, the brix value of the apples and the fruit weight increased significantly, and the general appearance improved. Trees looked greener and more healthy, and they suffered less from sunburn. This is thanks to the fact that the use of Sili-Fert P increases pigment production, leading to less damage by UV light.

Apple orchard graph 1
Fig. 1: Hardness of the apples from the untreated and treated trees.
Apple orchard graph 2
Fig.2: Fruits ready for picking at different harvest moments for the untreated and treated trees (sum of the different harvest moments = 100%).

Conclusion

Sili-Fert P proved to be an outstanding foliar biostimulant for optimising apple quality and yield. Multiple parameters including fruit hardness, brix value and fruit weight were improved after treatment, and time was saved by the grower due to an increased yield at the first harvest reducing the number of harvests.

  • Increased hardness of apples
  • Increased brix value
  • Increased resistance against heat stress
  • Higher yield at the first harvest
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Sili-Fert P