Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/473131
www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER MARCH 15, 2015 35 sensing female flowers. In Europe, scien- tists are studying artificial pollination by using orchard sprayers to improve fruit set of pears. Tasmanian researchers are interested in applying the concept to vegetable seed crops. "I wanted to take the existing struc- ture in our tree fruit industry of using supplemental pollen and see if it could be applied in solution by a sprayer," Whiting said. The electrostatic sprayer is an important part of the process because it positively charges the solution particles so they will adhere to the stigma. Surfaces of the stigma are negatively charged. "Pollen grains are very small, and one of the challenges was to deposit them where they needed to be but also to have them stick on the stigma surface," he explained. Precise pollination Bloom and fruit set are annual worries for orchardists because fruit set deter- mines crop potential for the year. Whiting has studied fruit set biology for years and knows the laundry list of challenges that growers face from both bees and tree pollinizers. For bee pollination, timely beehive placement, strength of beehives, and activity during cool weather are all wor- ries for growers. Tree pollinizers have another set of issues, from compatibility to sufficient bloom and bloom overlap to pollinizer density. More recently, there's concern about diseases associated with Manchurian crab apple pollinizers. Whiting believes people around the world are recognizing the challenges of consistent cropping, from the farmer's need for stable profitability to producing enough to feed the ever-expanding global population. "The ultimate goal of mechanical pollination is about more than just yield security," he said. "A major part of my motivation is to solve the problem of crop load man- agement in pome and stone fruit production. Growers face so many challenges between pollinizer choice and density to blossom and fruit thin- ning. Our current crop load management is designed around setting every fruit. Then, we use chemical treatments or hand thinning to bring it down to desired levels." But what if growers could use what Whiting calls 'precise pollination' and take complete con- trol of crop load during fruit set? Pollination from bees or pollinizing from trees wouldn't be necessary. The precise amount of pollen needed to result in a specific crop load could be applied. The spread of pollen-borne diseases could be stopped. In the next few years, Whiting hopes to turn precision polli- nation into technology that has potential to dramatically alter crop load management practices and help growers achieve more consistent cropping levels. • "We are really at the initial stage in research and are now just really getting started." —Matt Whiting Netting was applied to whole trees and single limbs to exclude bees for the mechanical pollination study. Pollen was applied mechanically through the netting WR½RZHUVRSHQLQJLQVLGH