Weather station data helps Whanganui kiwifruit farm go from strength to strength in tricky conditions

The adoption of weather and disease technology has helped the orchard of Whanganui kiwifruit grower David Wells thrive. Photo / Supplied

Technology has allowed a Whanganui kiwifruit grower to thrive in a year more challenging than most for growing.

David Wells co-owns the Ngaturi orchard in Mangamahu. It started in 1978 with 3.5 hectares of kiwifruit vines but expanded to 20ha in 2020.

The Whanganui region is not particularly known for kiwifruit growing and the orchard’s proximity to the Mangawhero and Whangaehu rivers gives it a microclimate with cool winters, hot summers and a relatively low annual rainfall of 900mm.

To better understand the conditions in the orchard, Wells recently installed a Harvest Weather Station, which provided him with real-time weather information on wind, humidity, evapotranspiration, rainfall, soil temperature and moisture levels.

The information was then fed to the kiwifruit industry’s weather and disease portal, designed by agri-tech company HortPlus, which combines the data with disease risk models to provide graphs and information orchardists use to make key decisions.

For Wells, this meant he could make decisions on irrigation, frost protection and how to protect his vines from the bacterial disease Psa.

“Basically, I’m a bit of a weather nut, I’m particularly interested in the chill units and Psa risk model on the weather and disease portal,” he said.

Two seasons ago he said Psa bud rot took out about 75 per cent of the flower buds in the old 3.5ha block.

“We seem to be a bit more susceptible to Psa where we are, perhaps because of the cooler weather.

“I’m trying to do all I can to manage the risk and the weather station and weather and disease portal are part of that.”

However, the following season the previously infected block bounced back, producing more than 13,000 trays per hectare, with each tray on average weighing 3.6kg.

David Wells. Photo / Supplied

The data from the weather station on his orchard was also used as part of a project by Zespri to connect 10 weather stations and gauge the difference localised data could make for orchardists.

Wells said from his experience there was great potential for other orchardists to make better use of technology and harness localised data for better Psa management.

“The technology seems to be constantly improving,” he said.

This winter and spring he would be watching the portal and communicating with Apata Grow, who manage the orchard and make sure they can carry out early treatment if they see something.

The weather and disease portal is available online to all growers and is run by Kiwifruit Vine Health and Zespri.