We live next door to 2 x Kiwi fruit orchards. Just had a notification that one is spraying Hi-Break, same thing as Hi-Cane, this Friday. Warns do not enter the orchard for 5 days!!! Seems Friday should be a day indoors for us.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That must be super frustrating. If they need to use this because of a lack of frosts, what's the benefit of growing kiwifruit up north instead of growing where there are frosts? Do the fruit grow faster and bigger in the warmer weather?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

It’s used to promote the bud burst, and hence fruiting, so more fruits appear at the same time which makes harvesting better controlled. Hi-Cane is also used on apples for exactly the same reason. I’m not an expert, but I’d suspect the warmer weather up here would typically promote more random fruiting.

The sprays are to replicate frosts which we don’t get that would do something similar. The warmer weather probably means earlier harvests as well up here.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Yeah I was just wondering if frosts are needed then why grow where there are no frosts. Earlier harvests makes a lot of sense.