Question❓| Upskill 📚 | Information ℹ️ | Picture 📷 | Special Offer 🎁

Edition 2

👋 Hello Friends – all 750+ of you!

Happy Tuesday and welcome to this week's edition. As the fastest-growing subtropical farming community out there, we're thrilled to be your BFF (Best Farming Friend), saving you hundreds of hours by unearthing hidden gems like actionable tips, practical knowledge, industry insights, and so much more - all with the end goal of equipping you for excellence and success.

We’re out with our second QUIPS edition!! 🥳 

Don’t know about you, but we’re having an absolute blast writing these.

Get ready, because we’ve got some bumper-crop-worthy content coming your way over the next few weeks and months.

Before we dive into today’s edition, we’d love for you all to to please share your thoughts, ask any burning questions you may have, or let us know which topics you’d love to see covered. Remember, we’re here for you - the awesome TropicalBytes community!

Let's jump right in! 🚀

Read time: 2 minutes 59 seconds

In Today’s Email:

• Q: “Can You Spot What This Mac Tree Needs?”

• U: Protect Your Tractor from Mulching Mishaps

• I: Master-Class in Tree Transplanting

• P: Meet Our Tiny Protectors

• S: Tickets for Two to NAMPO 2023!

Question❓

“Can You Spot What This Mac Tree Needs?”

Well, that was a trick question! This mac tree isn't lacking anything; what you see here is thrips damage. But how do we know?

Well, there are a few tell-tale signs:

1. Thrips damage is external and mechanical which presents as stunted growth and scarring, as opposed to internal, nutrition-based damage which typically presents as discoloration or wilting.

2. Even if the majority of the swarm has left the scene, you will most likely still be able to find a few by knocking a bunch of leaves onto a dark cellphone screen - watch for tiny runners.

3. And, even if they’ve all fled, evidence of their presence 💩 may be visible if you shake leaves on to a white page.

🤓 Fun Fact: Over 5,000 types of thrips exist, with some being beneficial predators preying on mites, feeding on fungal spores, and assisting in pollination. So, don’t label them all as “pests”. And, for a quirky tidbit (because who doesn’t love one 😝): the word 'thrips' is both singular and plural. That means one thrips is also called a thrips! – though we doubt you'll ever find just ONE thrips, thanks to their incredibly fast reproductive cycle 🙄.

💡 Pro Tip: To maintain balance and safeguard your orchards, cultivate a diverse selection of plants/cover crops within your orchards, to attract natural predators like ladybugs and lacewings. These beneficial insects will actively hunt thrips, keeping their populations under control.

👉 For More Thrips-Fighting Strategies: Dive into JAFF 26's Story (Read Under Pests).

⏰ Friendly Reminder: Submit Questions to be Answered Here.

Upskill 📚

Protect Your Tractor from Mulching Mishaps.

This weeks upskill is more of a really handy tip, which a lot of our “upskills” will be.

In-orchard mulching is a big thing in both macs and avos. The long, hard branches can be troublesome for the tractors - this JAFF uses a rubber matting instead of a steel plate, it's cheaper, lighter, and easier to remove for servicing.

👉 Read JAFF 3’s Story Here. 

⏰ Friendly Reminder: Share Your Own Upskill Tips Here.

Information ℹ️

Master-Class in Tree Transplanting.

We've interviewed no less than 5 farmers who have successfully transplanted large mac trees.

Here are the common keys to success:

• Plan – minimise the out-of-soil time by making sure the new orchard soils are corrected nutritionally, holes are dug (only one day before transplanting), watered well and having all equipment ready. Start early and rest only when it’s done. Plan on how many you can transplant in one day; if that’s 5, only dig 5 holes.

• Timing – straight after harvest, cut the trees back. It might be best to wait until the rainy season to do the move but it’s not essential, as you will need to supplement the irrigation on these transplants anyway.

• Water – use plenty of it, both to soften the ground around the roots, prep the new hole and then keep the tree roots moist for at least the first season.

• Cut back – some farmers remove all leaves, while others only trim back. The key is to ensure there are never more leaves than roots. There's probably value in leaving some “photosynthesising factory” on the tree, but it's not mandatory. Some farmers cut back before moving, while others do it once the tree is in the new hole.

• Protect – paint the entire tree with a specialised tree paint, a diluted solution of white latex paint, or PVA paint to prevent sunburn damage.

• Trench – to extract the tree from the ground, it's recommended to dig a trench around its base, severing the side roots. Some farmers prefer to do this one day before the extraction, while others do it a while before. Dig the trench approximately 50-60cm away from the tree trunk, 50cm deep, and 30cm wide, leaving a 1m x 1m x 50cm root "ball" to move.

Illustration: Trench Preparation 👇

• Stealth – handle the tree like prized china when removing it to minimize soil loss from around the roots. Strap it onto the boom of the TLB or front-end loader. If you move carefully enough, the tree may not even notice it's been moved 😉.

• Same Soil Level – just like with new plantings, do not change the depth of the tree. Farmers have mentioned they don’t worry about whether the tree faces the same direction or not.

👉 For More Transplanting Tips. Read these top three JAFF stories:

• JAFF 4

• JAFF 7

• JAFF 23

Upcoming Industry Events

• Bloem Show 27 April – 6 May

• The Solar Show 25 – 26 April

• NAMPO 16 – 19 May

• Royal Agricultural Show 26 May – 4 June

• AVI Africa 6 – 8 June

• WoodEX 27 – 29 June

Picture 📷

Meet Our Tiny Protectors

Ladybirds are major beneficials in mac and avo orchards, munching away on mites, scale, aphids, various insect eggs and thrips. They’ve been surrounded by superstition (the good kind) since early times and have certainly earned their stripes when it comes to being the organic fruit farmers’ greatest ally.

🤓 Fun Fact: Ladybirds, also known as Ladybugs, are voracious predators and can consume over 5000 aphids during their one-year lifespan. In fact, a single ladybug can eat up to 50 aphids in a day. Ladybugs are also known to be attracted to plants with a high concentration of pollen and nectar, making them valuable pollinators.

⏰ Friendly Reminder: Share your farm pics, ideas, tips, or solutions with the TropicalBytes community to inspire one another, overcome challenges, and elevate your operations – together. Share Here

Special Offer 🎁

WIN TICKETS FOR TWO TO NAMPO 2023!

Feeling lucky? We certainly are! That’s why we’re doing a second round giveaway this week.

Get ready to experience one of the biggest farming events in the country! All you have to do is share your eye-catching photos, compelling topic suggestions, burning questions, or ingenious feature ideas for TropicalBytes. The best submissions will be selected and you could be the lucky winner or one of two separate individuals to win tickets to NAMPO 2023!

P.S - it's not just the tickets, you'll also receive a highly coveted piece of TropicalBytes memorabilia!

Get sending! 🚀

That’s a wrap! We hope you enjoyed this week’s QUIPS edition.

Don't forget to join us in the comments section below 👇 – it's kinda like a family Braai but better! There, you'll find no screaming kids, awkward photos, or tipsy uncles telling bizarre stories. Let's get the conversations cookin'! 🔥 

Until then, happy farming, deep learning, and warm smiles.

We'll see you next week! 🌱

The Comment Corner 💬

Join us in the comments section! Share your thoughts, offer your suggestions and enlighten us with your own pearls of wisdom!

Spread The Word! 📢

Enjoyed this newsletter? Spread the love and let others in on the fastest growing subtropical farming community! It only takes 30 seconds.

Just copy and paste this link to share with others: https://newsletters.tropicalbytes.co.za/subscribe