Experience, innovation helping to tackle production challenges

Image: Darren and Joe take a closer look at cos lettuce development on the DeRuvo’s property at Waterloo Corner.

Brothers Joe and Lorry DeRuvo took over the enterprise started by their father at Waterloo Corner. Today they grow iceberg and cos single leaf lettuce for McDonalds and a wholesaler, while they also grow wheat over about 200 hectares.

Lorry’s son, Domenic, handles deliveries and he has a daughter, Jacqueline. Joe’s daughter, Amelia, has also worked part-time on the property.

The property comprises predominantly red loam soils with some sandy parts and they grow lettuce in rotation after five years of wheat cover crop.

Using Marksman and Balboa iceberg varieties and Goblin cos variety, they plant lettuce every week for 10 months before a break from pre-Christmas to mid-January.

Seedlings are received from Boomaroo Nurseries near Geelong in Victoria and are planted after deep ripping, composting, pre-emergent fertiliser application and a rotary hoe.

Crops are harvested after about eight weeks in summer and 12-14 weeks during winter.

Joe said tip burn was an issue of increasing concern. He said it can result in processors rejecting produce, which could then go to waste.

Market fluctuations are a continuous challenge for growers, although Joe and Lorry had fixed pricing with processors, based on weight.

Joe said they had to manage a range of diseases and insects, including downy mildew, sclerotinia and anthracnose, as well as western flower thrip and Rutherglen bug.

Image: Lorry and Joe DeRuvo, Waterloo Corner, discuss management of downy mildew disease with Bayer Commercial Sales Representative Darren Alexander during harvest of the DeRuvo’s iceberg lettuce.

Maldison® and Dominex insecticides are used, Rovral® fungicide targets the sclerotinia, Octave® has been applied for anthracnose and Ridomil® Gold MZ has traditionally been used to combat downy mildew. However, the DeRuvos have also recently applied the new generation fungicide, Infinito®, against downy mildew following a recommendation from local CRT Agronomist Paul Pezzaniti.

Infinito, from Bayer, is active against all key stages in the downy mildew life cycle in a range of crops and also helps protect against late blight in potatoes.

It combines two new active ingredients, propamocarb hydrochloride and fluopicolide, effectively providing an in-built resistance management solution for growers.

Infinito penetrates plant tissue within minutes and is highly systemic, moving quickly into leaves and stems, inhibiting disease development.

Compatible with most commonly used insecticides and fungicides, it is equally effective under all weather conditions and is quickly rainfast, providing long lasting protection.

Joe said with about 40 resistant strains of downy mildew, they look at variety selection as well as spray applications to manage the disease.

“We might have to spray every week if we are not on top of it, but recently we have sprayed twice with Infinito and also used Ridomil,’’ he said.

“We had been using Ridomil and it (the disease) had been getting out of hand.

“Marksman is prone to mildew and we had the right conditions for it.

“Paul had seen good results with Infinito, so we applied it twice, seven days apart, and it stopped it. Then we went with a resistant variety.

“Infinito just gives us an option. We are now not hitting the disease week after week with the same chemical.’’