What should be done to reduce the phenomenon of fruit drop in summer?

In this post we are going to give you some practical advice in order to avoid fruit drop. With the severe changes in the climate during this time of late spring and early summer in which crops such as mango, date palms, pomegranate, olive trees, grapes are in the fertilization and fruit setting phase, several factors must be taken into account to avoid or reduce the problem of premature fall of freshly set fruits.

the fall of the fruits may be due to:

– plant malnutrition

– abundant watering during the setting phase

– lack of water followed by abundant irrigation

– irrigation during hours of high insolation

– lack of some nutrients such as boron, zinc, calcium, etc.

– some fungal diseases

– some insect attacks

– soil type/texture, especially heavy soils with drainage difficulties that could cause root asphyxia.

The phenomenon of fruit drop in fruit trees generally occurs after the setting phase or when the fruit is about to ripen. the fall of fruits occurs in two stages. the first is called premature fall which could be aggravated by weather conditions, such as high temperatures and the second known as pre-harvest fall.

The place of disintegration can be either at the junction between the stalk and the fruit, or on the surface of the fruit very close to the stalk. It has also been observed that at the time of the fall, the ethylene content is high, which allows to accelerate this phenomenon.

The orange crop is one of the crops that suffer this phenomenon especially when temperatures rise and relative humidity is reduced in the growth and fruiting phases, these adverse conditions cause evapotranspiration to increase considerably and exceed the water absorption capacity by the roots, which leads to the fall of some organs of the tree, such as flowers and small freshly set fruits, in addition to stains on the surface of the fruits, which reduces its commercial value.

It is very important to take precautions:

– carry out a balanced irrigation program, especially before any severe change in temperature occurs, avoiding very hot hours.

– Improve the health and physiological state of the plant through a rapid treatment with amino acids/seaweed extracts and other microelements such as zinc and iron. It can be applied before the arrival of severe weather changes and another application after this wave ends.

– Apply GRANFOL-K after 50% flowering 2 to 3 times with an interval of 7-10 days.

– Apply FERTIMIX-Zn.

– Applying ALGAPOWER, with a high content of seaweed extracts, free amino acids and other nutritional elements, allows to considerably reduce the stress suffered by the plant.

– The application of QUICELUM, its composition improve flowering and fruit set. from before the petals fall and until the first phases of fruit growth.

– FERTIMIX-CaB, with a high content of complexed Ca and B, well known for being rapidly assimilated by the plant and for reaching the site of deficiency in a very short time.

A. Laribi