• Fruit quality issues – internal flesh cracking, soft internal flesh, poor shelf life.
• Inconsistent yields between different plantings with the same fertilizer program.
• Soil and plant viral infections.
• To increase the soil microbial biomass.
• Improve nutrient retention in high drainage soils.
• Double crop opportunity with the same planting.

Products used:

• Geo Leak Solutions RC3 mixed with
• Humic Solutions Humates as a foliar spray.
• Humic Solutions Humates, Olssons’s Sea Minerals for soil conditioning
• Other NPK inputs in conjunction with Humic Solutions Humates for decreased nutrient leaching.

Innovation

• Seedling drench with RC3 prior to transplanting
• Humate and sea minerals for soil conditioning at two-week intervals during the production cycle
• Two foliar applications of RC3: plants at the running stage, plants at the fruit set/fruit fill stage
• RC3 foliar application at the bud swelling stage prior to flowering
• RC3 foliar application after fruit set for fruit retention
• After the first main harvest, apply two RC3 foliar applications to re-grow a new crop canopy
• Humates, sea minerals fertigated during the crop re-grow stage. No additional nitrogen applied; maintenance applications of calcium and potassium during fruit fill stage.
  Innovation commenced February 2020

Key results

• Increased plant growth responses after the RC3 applications
• Significant reduction in pesticide applications for mildew and chewing insects
• Soil microbial biomass readings increased from 800 to 2,200 micro g/cm, which is an exceptional result.
• Soil microbial biomass readings of 2,200 micro g/cm were maintained during the second crop re-grow and fruit fill stage, without additional nitrogen fertilizers
• Consistent yields between planting ~50 tonnes/Ha, compared with previous years @ 30-45 tonnes/ha
• Good improvement in plant sap brix readings from 1.5-3 in 2019 to 5-6 in 2020
• Second crops that were treated with RC3 yielded ~30-40 tonnes/ha
• Substantial improvements with fruit quality; internal cracking virtually eliminated; crisp, dark red flesh maintained; fruit size consistent to achieve preferred sizing specifications for the supermarkets.
• Fruit brix consistently achieved 12-14 at harvest, when the minimum brix specifications at harvest for supply is 10.

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• Die back in mangoes
• Reducing yields and tree vigour
• Soil & plant fungal infections
• To increase the soil fungal microbial biomass
• Improve water retention during below average successive wet seasons.

Products used

• Geo Leak Solutions RC3 mixed with Humic Solutions Humates as a foliar spray
• Humic Solutions Humates, Olssons’s Sea Minerals & Geo Leak Solutions EWS 30SH for soil conditioning and water retention
• Other NPK inputs in conjunction with Humic Solutions Humates

Innovation

• Treatment started with humate and sea minerals for soil conditioning and then a RC3 and Humates foliar treatment to pick up the plant health and eradicate the tree fungal infections
• Two foliar applications of RC3 one month apart
• Humates, sea minerals EWS 30SH were soil applied to condition the soil during the wet season
• RC3 foliar appliction at the bud swelling stage prior to flowering
• RC3 foliar application after fruit set for fruit retention
• Two RC3 foliar applications applied during the fruit-fill stage for crop sizing
• Humates, sea minerals and EWS 30SH fertigated during the crop fill stage which also acted as a chelation agent for the soluble NPK fertilisers applied
  Innovation commenced February 2020

​Key results

Trees with mild die back responded quickly with the first two RC3/Humate/Sea Minerals/EWS 30SH applications. Two new flushes on the trees with the majority of trees growing a new canopy of the whole tree. Leaf size changes measured with the new flush to have 150% increase in the surface area of the new flush with the same number of leaves/flushes @12-15 leaves, compared with previous flushes prior to the treatment program.

Trees with severe dieback infestations took up to six months to grow new leaves, which was during the flowering/fruit fill crop stage. The trees grew 2-3 flushes during that time, with the same increases in leaf size and a new canopy 50-80% of the tree volume over two months.

Improvement in fruit retention with a reported increase in fruit size packed at harvest. The fruit density also increased, as the fruit size packed out needed computer program changes which had been set for smaller fruit to a heavier weight.

Soil has better nutrient holding capacity due to the chelation ability of the humates

Good plant and flower health with fruit quality improving substantially on the previous year

The total Calypso mango crop was down by 15% in 2020 compared with the 2019 mango harvest. The NT industry average decrease in mango harvest in 2020 compared with 2019 was between 50-65%, which was considered and “off year”. An exceptional result with the RC3,Humates,Sea Minerals and EWS 30SH program.

Average rainfall 950mm and irrigation to whole property.
Ian – Katherine Northern Territory

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