This is a final research report from Hort Innovation’s historical archives. Please note that as these reports may date back as far as the 1990s, the content and recommendations within them may be superseded by more recent research.

What was it all about?

Canopy management is one of the major production issues confronting the Australian avocado industry. Cost effective means of tree size control to optimise light interception and penetration, maximise fruit quality and yield, and improve efficiency of harvesting and spraying operations were essential.

The objective of this study was to identify canopy management strategies that could be successfully implemented in all major avocado growing areas across Australia. Several canopy management strategies were evaluated, including selective limb removal, selective and mechanical pruning, staghorning, tree removal and plant growth regulator application. At many sites a combination of strategies are being used (eg. mechanical pruning, selective pruning and plant growth regulators).

The use of plant growth regulators as a canopy management tool was also evaluated. Trials were established to investigate the effect of naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) on regrowth in pruned trees, uniconazole (Sunny®) and paclobutrazol (Austar®) on shoot growth, flowering and yield in staghorned trees, and prohexadione-calcium (Regalis®) on shoot growth, fruit quality and yield.