Citrus Tree Pruning, Part 2: Hedging

Getting our Pummelo trees hedged with a TOL Hedger by Pacific Topping and Hedging. Filmed on April 7, 2023.
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We are a small family farm who farms, packs, and sells our own Organic and Conventional Citrus! What can be more sustainable than that? Join us as we show you some of the farming operations that the general consumer does not see. You can think of it as a 'Behind the Scenes' theme, sharing what happens to the fruit before it gets to the store shelves. Not only will we share WHAT happens, but also WHEN it happens with Date stamps for each video.
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[@yanmeikl2301]

Would you kindly share the TOL Hedger contact, or web page?

[@hauryfarms]

Thank you for your email. It was great to talk with you

[@allanhartle344]

Just wondering why such a small angle instead of like a 15 degree to allow more sun in to the lower bottom for better spray penetration a nd better size of fruit.

[@hauryfarms]

Great Question! We've found that this size and shape of tree produces high bins per acre while being able to efficiently spray, prune, harvest, etc. I spray with an Airofan D2-40, so spray penetration is not an issue for this size of tree. The main issue with pummelos is scale, but we use phermones, aphytis, along with spray, which keeps it under control. Our pruning method helps with sizing, but we have been able to sell all sizes, fancy and choice, at a good price, so we are not too concerned about maxing out large fancy sizes. We've thought about high density planting and trellising to get higher percentage of large sizes, but the costs would be too high for it to make sense. It seems like the pummelo market peaked two years ago and is now on the downslope with inflation and a huge amount of new plantings, so we do not want to invest a lot of money into a declining market. Also, the USDA is now accepting imports of China and Vietnam pummelos into the US market, which is contributing to the pummelo market decline.

[@allanhartle344]

Welcome to citrus 101 from a Florida grower..?Wasjust wondering on the angle, weused to ( before HLB)would cut grft at 15 degrees a day got better coverage and size. Thanks for the reply....gotta love imports.....

[@hauryfarms]

@@allanhartle344 Thank you for the insight. We are fairly small (~100 acres across all varieties) so its difficult for us to run trial blocks and compare, but now you have me thinking about trying 15 deg when we hedge this spring. Even though growing climates and farming practices are different in Florida and California, there is a lot we can learn from eachother!