The ecological and intensive avocado production system is increasing considerably in Spain. The one that obtains the best quality is the one that is grown with irrigation controlled by sensors and agricultural humidity, temperature and conductivity probes.
What does the cultivation of organic and intensive avocado consist of?
The organic and intensive avocado is the one that follows the guidelines of:
- Organic farming.
- Be free of phytosanitary products.
- It has a high percentage of trees per hectare.
- It is designed to be able to take care of the avocado tree.
- Collection is made as easy as possible.
As the population of trees increases, the demands for water and nutrients rise, the problem of soil degradation and high water consumption appears with the corresponding increase in salinity that harms the crop in the long run.
The best way to avoid problems is to control them, both for the care of the environment and the soil.
The cultivation of ecological and intensive avocados consists precisely in increasing its production and at the same time taking care of the soil, avoiding fertilizers and phytosanitary products and without lowering the quality.
Organic avocado care
We can distinguish several factors when obtaining an organic avocado:
Water quality
Avocado needs a lot of water and at the same time is sensitive to salinity. Both problems can be minimized with
- La calidad del agua con un análisis en laboratorio.
- The control of the soil by agricultural humidity sensors, subsoil temperature.
- Salts must be controlled with conductivity sensors.
If the humidity is necessary and never excessive because it is properly controlled in real time, the avocado tree absorbs the water it needs and the nutrients in its proper measure.
Waterlogging can cause roots to rot or fungi to proliferate.
Salinity is produced by the effect from evaporation and accumulate on the surface in the form of a crust. At the same time, they prevent the avocado from absorbing nutrients properly. The soil atmosphere is altered because the air enters with difficulty. The plant has less oxygen in its root environment.
Avocado is very sensitive to salinity. This is a problem that increases in intensive crops and we must prevent it from occurring.
Prevent evaporation
To avoid the evaporation of water from the soil, the best thing is a drip irrigation , even the buried drip is more favorable, as we already explained in another article.
Also control the humidity of the wet bulb in real time. Avocado roots are very shallow and wet bulbs do not need to be very deep. Watering should be short, frequent and adjusted to the needs of the tree.
Another positive factor is to cover the land with leaf litter, either from the pruning of trees or from the stubble of weeds that grows on the ground. This branching also has the advantage of harboring insects that favor pollination.
This will also serve us as nutrients when this plant matter decomposes. In this way, the organic matter of the soil increases and we avoid the need to add fertilizers.
The tree canopy itself prevents weeds from growing near the trunk, thus not depriving it of nutrients. When the avocado tree is young, it is convenient to remove them or protect the area around the trunk with a mesh. In this way the tree grows more robust.
The fertilizers
They must be as ecological as possible. animal droppings, stubble and minerals that the tree needs without accumulating on the ground.
Also avoid phytosanitary products. With good irrigation control we can avoid fungi that are the main enemy of the avocado tree.
Soil oxygenation
The soil atmosphere is a key factor in avocado cultivation. It is convenient to turn the soil before planting and from time to time so that the roots have plenty of oxygen.
How we already indicated to prevent the crust of salts from occurring. Aeration and humidity control are two key factors for avocados to grow strong and healthy.
Also control a good management of minerals that it needs for its development. Especially nitrogen.
With all these factors we can ensure that intensive plantation produces quality avocados while reducing water and energy costs.
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