California Avocado Commission Establishes Demonstration Grove
The California Avocado Commission has established a demonstration production grove.
The grove is located in Ventura County, California and is an 11-acre demonstration site. The development plan calls for plantings of different densities, rootstocks and varieties to show California avocado growers how different options can affect tree growth, yield, fruit quality and grove management.
“The Commission is committed to doing everything possible to keep the California avocado industry vibrant, progressive and prosperous for California avocado growers,” said Tom Bellamore, CAC president. “Pine Tree Ranch will give CAC an opportunity to test different planting and management techniques, and will add to the toolbox of vital information that we provide.”
During the recent inaugural field day of the Pine Tree Ranch Demonstration Grove in Santa Paula, CA, attendees heard presentations from researchers from UC Riverside, toured the new grove and experienced in-field demonstrations of different pruning practices, according to a press release.
Commenced in 2013, the CAC's Pine Tree Ranch Demonstration Grove project is a collaborative effort in partnership with California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Representatives from Cal Poly provided guidance for the development plan along with an advisory group of California avocado growers and grove managers.
Dr. Carol Lovatt from the Botany and Plant Sciences Department gave a presentation in which she discussed fertilizer strategies and how to make the best management decisions based on the previous year’s crop load, current crop and bloom potential. Dr. Akif Eskalen from the Plant Pathology Department discussed orchard sanitation for disease control.
After the presentations, representatives from CAC led in-grove pruning demonstrations and discussions. During the demonstrations, Eskalen emphasized the importance of sanitizing pruning equipment.
Dr. Tim Spann, CAC's Research Project Manager, explained that this demonstration grove is only part of a much larger production research program lead by the Commission.
"CAC has been working hard to increase our outreach efforts to growers and Pine Tree Ranch is a huge part of that effort,” said Spann. “We now require all CAC-funded research projects to have an outreach component, and Pine Tree Ranch provides us with the venue to make our outreach goals a reality. This project is 100 percent grower-need driven."
California Avocado Commission
