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Design, Transformation and Ground Preparation. |
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Depending on whether or not the Estate is given over to new plants, double-planting or restocking, we must bear in mind a variety of technical and indeed logical concepts if we are to obtain the best results in the future, and if we are to avoid problems from day one.
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New Plants |
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Nowadays the vast majority of plantations employ drip irrigation systems, which is why ground transformations do not need to be costly, as even very sloping land can be irrigated. Depending on the lay of the land, we can choose from various planting designs; in estates where the slopes are greater than 10 to 15% or more, we can design them along the contour lines, see figures 1 and 2. If however we are dealing with a flat estate or one with slopes less than 10%, we can opt to plant them on ridges; seeking guidance and taking into account the storm water outlets and drains.
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Today the use of ridges is very important, as that way we protect the plants from a variety of possible root and stem diseases, as is the use of improved handling techniques when irrigating and fertilising, particularly on saline and muddy land, and in areas where the water is of poor quality.
As far as irrigation is concerned, special attention must be paid to overflows from the lower areas in the different irrigation sectors, we should try to avoid them as much as possible by using either retention or differential pressure valves.
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In new estates, we need to be quite clear that once we have decided on the design and the layout of the plantation, it’s hard to make any changes once growth has been established. That is why we have to seek out suitable, ample layouts where we can mechanise growth as much as possible, through the use of phytosanitary treatments, herbicides, collecting and mashing branches after pruning etc. This will keep our production costs down.
To a great extent, the planting layout that you choose depends as much on the pattern to be used as on the variety. |
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Double-planting
When double-planting and repositioning, we have to pay great attention to detail, as we are creating a new growth of saplings alongside adult trees, with the problems that that entails. That is why we recommend you bear the following points in mind:
1) In traditional irrigation, water the plants at shorter intervals, but with less flow per m² of surface.
2) In drip irrigation, work out the flow and the hours that adult trees need to be watered (the highest value) and then calculate the dripper that the sapling will need.
(Example: In an estate that is being replanted or double-planted with adult navel trees, each tree has currently four drippers giving a total flow of 16 litres per hour. If we water for 4 hours at the height of summer, that works out at 64 litres of irrigation per tree. With this data we can determine that the sapling, at the height of summer, will need a maximum of 8 litres per day, which tells us that we need to provide the saplings with a dripper providing 2 litres of flow per hour).
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3) Ensure that the sapling has enough light. When double-planting we can achieve this by growing them in two rows, setting them out in triangles and at a distance from each other of between 2 to 3.5 metres, depending on the variety. (Fig. 3 and 4).
4) Whenever possible, you should plant at a height, on a ridge or on a small mound (Fig. 3 and 4).
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5) Special attention should be given to phytosanitary treatments, carrying them out whenever necessary mainly on account of the Citrus Leafminer (Phyllocnistis Citrella). Given that the growth cycle of a sapling is greater than that of adult trees, we have to treat saplings more often.
We may apply products via foliar in treatments that take from 12 to 15 days, from the 20th of June to the end of September or beginning of October. There are also certain active materials in the market today, which work through the soil by drip watering or by injecting them directly into the root system of the trees. |
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