Containerised, under-cover avocado production system

This summary, produced by Costa provides practical takeaways from a commercial-scale trial of avocados grown in containers under netting.

What was tested

This work assessed whether a containerised (potted) avocado system under netting could reduce soil-borne disease risk, enable tighter control of water and nutrition, and improve fruit quality through microclimate modification. The system was established at commercial scale, and included multiple agronomic and technology trials (pollination, irrigation sensing, canopy management, rootstocks, data integration and remote sensing).

Key outcomes

• Disease (Phytophthora): Pots did not prevent infection when flooding/waterlogging occurred and when roots penetrated into underlying soil.

• Netting benefit (independent of pots): Netting consistently improved fruit quality (higher premium packout) and advanced maturity (earlier harvest).

• Most transferable agronomic learning: Irrigation and drainage behaviour in containers is fundamentally different to in-ground orchards; sensor-based monitoring materially improves understanding and decision-making.

• Most transferable productivity learning: Pollination can become a major limiting factor under netting; monitoring plus complementary/mechanical approaches showed promise.

• Technology capability: Strong progress was made in integrating sensor and operational datasets and in evaluating LiDAR/remote sensing for canopy and crop measurement.