How to protect fruits from cracking and obtain the premium quality cherry?

The fresh fruit market, in particular cherry is increasingly demanding, so it requires perfect fruit, with big caliber, good color, crunchy sweet and aromatic consistence.

Hand in hand, the cherry supply chain is facing huge innovations period: new resistant varieties, with high hardness and shelf life, new breeding forms, precision mechanisation for defence with a multifunctional approach, packaging and storage with new technologies and know-how, which allow marketing periods of even more than 30 days.

For fruit companies it is therefore essential:

  • Obtain high quality fruit (calibre and color)
  • Protection from cracking
  • Guarantee the optimal ripening process of the fruit, without encountering problems due to the modification of the climatic conditions that are created under the fixed cover systems
  • Have a system that is easy to open and close to simplify management and reduce labor time and costs

The traditional support system method of the cherry orchard consists of the poles on which through wires, hoods, plackets and elastics, rainproof cloths are attached to protect the fruit.

The rain clothes are opened manually for the pollination of the bloom, then leaving the plants covered until the end of the fruit harvest.

The conditions created by the traditional structure could lead to various issues as for the plants – the humid climate under the rain clothes leads to creation of the monilia – so for the fruit – peel less thick and tender.

The solution chosen by Advice&Consulting® is the “Multishield” technology, made by a structure of pre-stressed reinforced concrete poles positioned at a greater distance from each other on the row; on this structure completely anchored to the ground, hoods are applied and the wires and ropes are stretched to create a sort of “binary” where the rainproof clothes can slide.
These clothes, cut to the same extent as the distance between the poles and fixed to the “binary” with special rings and plates, thus acquire an ease of sliding which makes opening and closing operations easier.

In this way, it is possible to manage the cover system as if it were an umbrella, opening it when there is the risk of rain and keeping it closed when the weather conditions are favorable for the fruit to ripen, giving it more color and sugar.

MAXIMUM SIMPLICITY IN THE MANAGEMENT OF THE SYSTEM AND FUNCTIONALITY: 2 people are enough to open and close the clothes at any time!

If you want to make this operation even faster and more effective, Advice&Consulting® offers the Wayki® automized system:

1 SINGLE WORKER CAN CLOSE OR OPEN THE COVER OF ONE HECTARE OF LAND IN LESS THAN ONE HOUR!

The Wayki® system is operated with an electric drill inserted in the special device installed on the head poles.

Watch the video and find out more about Wayki® technology

The Multishield system is suitable for both small fruits and kiwi orchards and cherry orchards of significant size, with a maximum height above ground of 5 meters.

This system is multifunctional, that is, it is able to perform several functions at the same time:

  • rainproof
  • anti-hail: implementing a specific cover that is positioned above the rain cover
  • windproof
  • thermoregulator because it protects against temperature fluctuations by regulating the temperature and ensuring a balanced climate
  • insect repellent (Drosophila Suzuki, Carpocapsa, Asian bug) if equipped with perimeter closures to create a “monobloc” and thus prevent the entry of insects (the closures can be customized according to the optimization needs of the system and the surrounding space.

It is essential to have a versatile system, which offers economic benefits not only in the first phase of purchase and construction, but also in maintenance and management and … above all, which guarantees the production of large, colourful, shiny, premium cherries!

Other important aspects for innovative control of the physiology of cherry ripening are management of the frost, packaging lines and controlled atmosphere.

For information regarding the innovative Multishield system for cherry orchards and post-harvest technologies, contact the Advice&Consulting® technical department, we will be happy to recommend the most suitable solutions for your needs!

Ask the Advice&Consulting® experts for advice on choosing the most cracking-resistant cherry varieties.