How do we prepare our “exhausted” crops for next season? It’s important to do all that you can to continue photosynthesis, as this allows perennial crops to store carbohydrates and increase nutrient reserves for use in the next season. This requires maintaining the leaves in reasonable condition for as long as possible after harvest. Post-harvest irrigation is important to keep leaves active and functioning. Applying foliar nutrient sprays combined with biological products applied via fertigation, like our compost teas and oceanic fish hydrolysates, is an excellent way to go.
Post-harvest is a golden opportunity to apply vital nutrients for maximum impact by complementing what the plants are naturally doing – translocating nutrients and carbohydrates from the leaves back into the buds and woody tissue in preparation for winter dormancy. Early nutrient demand in the spring cannot be met by root uptake alone — storage of nutrient reserves prior to dormancy is required to support shoot growth in the following season.
Foliar nutrient applications are the most effective way to directly to increase nutrient concentrations in the floral bud. There are studies stating that perennial crops uptake 1/3 of the total nutrients of the entire growing season at post-harvest. This is a window of opportunity that cannot be ignored, even given the rigorous demands of the harvest season.
It is important to pay particular attention to applying micronutrients — specifically boron, zinc, iron and molybdenum — as they all have immediate mobility. We’ve learned that this addition of micronutrients, even in very small quantities, dramatically improves the plants’ chances of having a more robust start to next season. For example, fall-applied foliar zinc is known to increase winter hardiness and spring cold tolerance via the protective effects of zinc on cell membranes. Fall-applied foliar boron has been shown to be more effective for fruit set than pre-bloom or bloom applications. Nitrogen is also very important to early spring growth as it gets remobilized in spring from the woody tissues of the tree.
Post-harvest nutrition is an important and necessary strategy to obtain high yields of quality fruit. It can lower alternate bearing risk, maximize early season growth potential, improve fruit set, and provide increased disease resistance in the spring. In addition, storing more carbohydrates in the wood of the plant or tree provides greater frost and freeze protection, as they also act as a natural “antifreeze.”
These applications should be viewed as an investment to next season’s return. We recommend MetaGrow ST Compost Tea, Pacific Gro Oceanic Hydrolysate and foliar fertilizers Agrostim 10.25-6.60-5.40, SuperGrow 6-2-12, Cropstim 14-8-10 and Agrogen 7-7-7. We also sell a number of micronutrient products.