Their response has come as no surprise to visiting expert Ton Besseling, Adama’s global Brevis project manager

Besseling travelled to NZ from the Netherlands in July to share the latest Brevis research.
 

He says the revolutionary photosynthesis inhibitor is taking fruitlet thinning "to the next level” and gives advisors and growers greater flexibility and autonomy.
 

Brevis mimics the effect of shading, reducing the production of carbohydrates by the tree. Remaining carbohydrates are sent to shoots and to the largest, dominant ‘king’ fruitlets at the expense of smaller fruitlets, which stop growing and start to drop from the tree in 7 to 10 days.
 

Because of this unique mode of action, Brevis is significantly less temperature dependent than plant hormone-based thinners.
 

Applied when fruitlets are between 8 and 14 mm, Brevis can be sprayed at temperatures between 10 and 25ºC, avoiding uncertainty and guesswork.
 

This is in contrast with other thinners, which have very specific temperature requirements at and following the time of application.
 

To find the best timing for Brevis and, as a result, get optimum thinning results, Adama says it has amassed in-depth knowledge of the impact of weather and other factors on Brevis’s thinning efficacy drawn from over 800 Northern and Southern Hemisphere trials.
 

Variables considered include the effects of night time temperatures, radiation (sunlight), humidity, and different varieties (easy, medium and hard to thin).
 

And, importantly, trials do not stop with registration.
 

Besseling says continuous trial work is vital to facilitate knowledge exchange and support advisor and grower decision-making, especially since thinning is such a critical and stressful time for growers.
 

Being a secondary fruitlet thinner, he says, Brevis will "do the job on its own without the need for primaries”, an approach NZ growers are increasingly adopting.
 

“If a grower still wants to use a primary thinner as well, that’s not a problem and it doesn’t affect the efficacy of Brevis.”
 

The label covers both single and split applications. The latter, Bresseling says, allows for even more precise fine-tuning for weather conditions or if the grower wants to stress the tree longer.
 

Time-saving is another important benefit of the product.

It does not require the addition of surfactants, making it easy to use. It is rain-fast within two to three hours and as Brevis is non-toxic to beneficial organisms, it is also an excellent fit for IPM programmes.
 

Moreover, orchard re-entry is possible after just three days, minimising disruptions to orchard routines.
 

Adama currently has Brevis registered in 27 countries and expects to extend that to 31 within the next four years.
 

This will give the fruitlet thinner a presence in 90 per cent of the world’s apple and pear producing nations.
 

For more detail, contact your local Adama commercial manager or visit www.adama. com.