How a transition from international standards to Localized Precision Nutrition and Hardened Biologicals shattered a 3-year performance plateau.
Punnets packed & sold (excluding waste) compared to 3-year average.
Moving away from broad international targets - honing the grow factors to suit the local conditions.
A strategic IPM approach - using beneficials, crop nutrition, and plant extracts to boost crop health.
Despite a challenging season marked by overcast conditions and moderate rainfall events, the localized strategy has outperformed the previous seasons that were run on international growing targets. While the control group—managed on a traditional international fertilizer recipe—was slow to develop flower trusses, the new approach saw multiple flower trusses emerging from each plant consistently across the season so far.
By mid-season, the new approach secured a 41.5% yield increase over the previous three-year average week on week, ensuring the majority of the harvest was sold at premium prices.
The trial focused on precision localized growing targets: adjusting nutrition, EC, pH, and the fertigation approach while tracking uptake efficiency. This performance gap is expected to widen further, as current flushes are larger than previous waves. Pest suppression of Two-Spotted Mite (TSM) and Western Flower Thrips (WFT) maintained the plant's ability to produce plentiful, high-quality berries. Further trial updates coming soon.
Rapidly suppressed by Smartbug's hardened persimilis. High quality predators protected plant vigour during peak growth.
Waves encountered in Dec-Jan were managed purely through the new IPM protocol. NO THRIPICIDES USED.
Focus on nutrition, crop hygiene, and select biological fungicides contributed to excellent suppression. "Soft" fungicides were used only during high-risk moisture events.