1. John Gillett

2.  Plant Regulator
◦ 480 or 720gms/L of Ethephon
 Releases Ethylene
◦ Ripening
◦ Senescence
◦ Nut drop
◦ Leaf drop

3.  AMS has a permit from APVMA for
◦ ALL varieties
◦ ALL growing regions
 Label is WRONG
◦ Needs to be addressed

4.  Standard spray equipment (air blaster)
 Poorly translocated in tree
 Good uniform coverage important
 Recommend use with a non ionic surfactant
 Spray to point of run off
◦ (inside and outside of tree)

5.  Accelerates nut drop
 It does NOT initiate nut drop
 Nut drop MUST have started to drop nut before
application
 Balance between
 In NSW April is suitable

6.  Successful rate and
application will cause –
◦ Nut drop in 2-3 weeks after
application
◦ Depending on variety
between 60 – 90% nut drop

7.  Reduced harvest costs
 Improvement kernel quality
 Opportunity to undertake other orchard
operations
 Break pest/disease cycle
 Improved rat control
 Removes need for hand harvesting in young trees

8. Parasitic leaves are
dropped
◦ Benefit to productive
plant growth
 Leaf drop in tight varieites (A16 & Daddow)
◦ Increase light into canopy
◦ Improves spray penetration into canopy

9.  Liaise with neighbours
◦ Very low toxicity
◦ Common courtesy
 Managing leaf fall
◦ No loss in yield in following season due to leaf fall
 Rate is different for each variety

10.  Ethrel does not manage
sticktights
◦ Sticktight is dead tissue
◦ Does not absorb ethylene
◦ Application needs to be prior to
sticktights forming
 Trees under stress should NOT
be sprayed with Ethrel
◦ Phytophthora, Canker, poor nutrition
Wet weather restricting
access for application

11.  Logistics requires careful planning
◦ Application to blocks staged over several weeks
◦ Spray different areas at different times
◦ Harvester capacity Block 1 Block 2
◦ Dehusking capcity
SHED
Block 3
◦ Shed capacity
Block 5
Block 4

12. Dose Rate For Different Varieties (Northern Rivers NSW)
(Based on data given to AMS to support APVMA Permit Application. Interpretation by Patch,
Quinlan and Gillett observations)
Suggested Nut Drop Leaf Drop Scale
Dose Rate compared to
Variety unsprayed control (1=excess Comments
(480 gms/lt a.i as 5=moderate
mls/100 lts 14 days 21 days 10=low)
water)
A16 180-250 45% 75% 7 Works better at higher rate
A38 80-125 64% 94% 7 Very effective
A4 80-125 59% 93% 8 Leaf drop at 125mls/100lts
849 125 66% 92% 7 Very effective
246 125 57% 80% 5 Very effective
344/741 80-125 63% 96% 4 Very effective
814 80-125 60% 70% 9 Leaf drop at 125mls/100lts
842 80-100 50% 83% 8 Leaf drop at 125mls/100lts