A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON MECHANICAL PRUNING UTILISING A ‘1-SIDE MECHANICAL SLANT TOPPING’ TECHNIQUE ON PISTACHIO TREES

‘Mechanical slant topping’ on 1-side of pistachio trees has been applied in Australia since 2007 and the effects of this style of mechanical pruning have been studied.
The relationship between yield and flower bud numbers shows that on-season trees may have more than 3000 flower buds while off-season trees may have less than 200 flower buds.
Investigations show that on-season trees on average have 15.7 nuts per rachis while off-season trees on average have 43.6 nuts per rachis.
Trials showed that this style of mechanical pruning prior to an off-season resulted in significantly higher yields in the following off-season (2 years later) compared with trees that were mechanical pruned prior to an on-season.
Flower bud change patterns were investigated for each side pruned in different winters.
Investigations demonstrated positive correlation between flower bud formation and total cross sectional area of shoots cut 2 years previous.
Five shoots cut with diameters ≥ 2.4 mm per tree seem to be a good indicator for flower bud formation of ≥ 200 flower buds per tree.

VI International Symposium on Almonds and Pistachios

J. Zhang

Pistacia vera, nut per rachis, flower bud number, yield, cross sectional area

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2014.1028.57