FARM CONTEXT
Date of visit	5 July 2022
Area	Camperdown, KwaZulu-Natal
Soils	“1/3 good, 1/3 average, 1/3 terrible,” says Jaff
Rainfall	Av 750mm annually
Altitude	670m
Distance from the coast	40kms
Temperature range	6°C to 30°C with occasional lows and highs outside of this range
Varieties	695, 816, 814, A4, A16, Nelmak 2, 788
Hectares under mac	90 hectares
Diversification	130 hectares instant lawn, grass seed, 950 hectares sugar cane

The majority of TropicalBytes’ farm visits require months of meticulous planning, hours of driving and nights away from home so when I get one that is ‘around the corner’, I am especially excited. Happy day indeed. Although it did make me look at my back garden with mac-thoughts (yet again) … if he can then …

So the day began leisurely as I took off up the N3 to a farm very close to Jaff 24. (Yes, I also wondered whether I’d bring you real value with another Jaff so close … let’s see … )

The entrance to Jaff 25’s property runs through sweeping expanses of manicured lawn and leads to a busy hub of offices. Lots going on but clearly organised. Jaff emerges from the centre of it all and we begin.

He’s grown up around farming, with his Dad being a farm manager in the poultry industry, but Jaff veered towards construction and started his working life as a land surveyor. A few unhappy encounters with hijackers helped him accept that this wasn’t going to be a long-term career.

Jaff considered going overseas but his girlfriend’s father suggested he stay and help out on their family farm before making a drastic move. It was an instant lawn farm and, in 1998/9, Jaff joined the team, making it official when a wedding followed soon after. Starting as a foreman, he worked his way through all facets of the farm and has now taken over the reins completely. Jaff has grown the business, having added additional neighbouring farms along the journey.

One of the farms they bought, in 2014, had a small macadamia nursery on it and that sparked the diversification into macs. Rather than waste the trees, they planted them. After some further research, Jaff decided it was worth wading in deeper … and started expanding this crop from 2016. There are currently 90 hectares of macs with plans to extend, as soon as the trees start producing properly and cashflow allows.

When I asked Jaff what HE was about – which is a standard question in understanding any Jaff’s priorities and therefore his farming practices – he says ‘everything’. And you can tell by the way Jaff literally bounces that this man is a fireball of energy and enthusiasm for life in general, not just farming.

REFOCUSED

Jaff explains that all his focus, to the point of starting in macs, had been aboveground – the lawn business revolves around customer service, logistics and quality grass. The cane operation (acquired in 2011) was ably managed by his brother-in-law.

When Jaff got into macs, the subterranean world became an area of interest … he began to focus on soil, using as many biologicals as possible to stimulate soil-based life, from the start. This more natural approach was extended to pest management but, this year, as the nuts start to come in, the unsound rates are too high and Jaff is concerned about his decision to limited chemicals as much as he has.

Early stink bug is the main culprit and Jaff will be employing a more integrated approach to restrict the pest damage going forward. Macs have opened up a whole new world of farming for Jaff that is eons away from the grasses (cane included) that he has farmed to this point. He is passionate about a biological approach but realistic about the viability in an open system.

RE-ENERGISED

Farming this (relatively) new crop has been a welcome challenge for this passionate Jaff. Having so much to learn is very exciting, especially as he has chosen to focus on the soil – he’s fenced part of the farm and a herd of Blesbok now roam in the mac orchards. SIDE NOTE: prior to the blesbok, Jaff had a herd of zebra … turns out they eat mac trees … just in case you were considering options for your own environment … Jaff swopped the zebra for blesbok with Tala Game Reserve, down the road.

Cover crops are another focus area. Being a grass farmer, this is easier for Jaff than for most others. He did consider harvesting seed from the grass grown in the interows but the equipment presents too much of a risk to the young trees.  Along the soil-health journey, Jaff met Mark Hutton from Andermatt Madumbi who endorsed Jaff planting grasses in the mac orchards saying that, under the mac trees, grass is better than mulch. I struggled to understand the science behind this statement so gave Mark a call … he’s all about sustainably healthy soils. He explained that healthy soils are a lot more complex than we might imagine and cannot be achieved by doing only one thing, especially if we want to maintain this in the long-term. If organic content is low, we need to improve that. If micro-organisms are low, we need to boost those. If moisture is lacking that’s also a pitfall etc etc. In the frantic efforts to increase each of these elements individually and consistently we sometimes fail to step back and consider the big picture. The only way to ‘automate’ in the orchard is to employ Nature. Nature doesn’t work for money, it works on diversity and balance. It doesn’t want to work in our monocropping system so, we can either continue to throw bucket loads of supplements at the land or we can entice Nature to get involved by creating an environment she can work with.

Now for the bomb – mulch is just a supplement. While it does add valuable organic content to the soil and fulfils the need to cover the soil, it’s not long-term carbon; micro-organisms, over time, will decompose the resource and then you will need to replace it again which is expensive and these resources are difficult to obtain consistently. We need to find a way to ensure you have constant soil cover.

Mark is suggesting we encourage a diverse range of living roots (plants) in the orchard rather than having a soil surface area that is not photosynthesising to its maximum potential. Bare soil = minimal photosynthesis. Diversity above ground in orchards supports diversity in microbes in the soil. Grass (or better still, a RANGE of living plants) under the trees would be a SUSTAINABLE part of ONGOING soil health. And now you’re thinking about all the nutrients those living plants will be stealing from your mac trees, right? Me too! Until Mark helped me understand exudates.

Wikipedia helped further … “Root exudates contain a wide variety of molecules (carbon, nutrients, stimulants etc) released by the plant into the soil. They act as a signalling messengers facilitating communication between soil microbes and plant roots. Exudates influence several factors within the soil such as nutrient availability, soil pH, and recruitment of bacteria and fungi. All of these impact the relationships that plants have with each other as well as soilborne microorganisms. The most notable positive relationship is that of roots and mycorrhizae. It is estimated that 80-90% of plants are colonized by mycorrhizae in nature. Mycorrhizae are known to promote plant growth and increase water use efficiency. Plants establish these mutualistic relationships with bacteria and fungi by modulating the composition of the root exudates. The complexity and structure of root systems, soil microbial activity and health plants photosynthesising to their full potential will determine the volume and quality of exudates delivered into the soil. Microbial mass and exudates (volume and quality) drive each other to greater heights, increasing soil health.

Only living plants, with roots, can produce these root exudates and the more diverse the plants, the healthier the result. Besides that, living plants will also moderate soil temperatures, minimise soil erosion, limit evaporation and, when they die, increase organic content.

Another important factor is that through the symbiotic relationship with plants and microbes, you will begin to fast track soil organic matter growth. Carbon is sequestrated from the atmosphere into the plant and delivered into the soil through the root exudates. This carbon is viewed as long term carbon. We know that soil organic matter and microbes have an influence on nutrient availability and uptake. Nutrients are taken in by plants through mass flow. For this to happen, we need a steady availability of moisture in the soil. The higher your soil organic matter the higher your water holding capacity and hence; up-take of nutrients.

The message is that the plant is constantly delivering additives (root exudates) to the soil for the benefit of microbes, soil health and ultimately the plant itself. We need to maximise this opportunity. How each farmer will do it will very but we need to keep an eye on the principals.

So, long story short … when Mark said that, under the mac trees, live grass is better than mulch he was referring to the ongoing sustainability of soil health without extensive additives. If, in the short term, your soil needs other help, like increased organic matter, then supplementation is advised in the form of mulch.

Next challenge is how to find the nuts in the mini-forest your mac orchard has become. And that’s where Agriculture and Nature have to rub up against each other … once a year Agriculturalists need to mow down the ‘forest’ so they can harvest. But it’s only a month or two, Nature has the rest of the year to recover from her assault, and enjoy the nutritious mulch generated by the trimmings.

For those intrigued by the possibilities, Jaff recommends planting Berea on mac orchard ridges because it is has a 70% shade tolerance and will thrive, even when the canopies close.

Berea grass. Mowed once a year to allow for harvest.

This (foreground) is one of Jaff’s Berea grass seed fields. It shows the full height this grass will get to. Although it dries off when it ‘goes to seed’, it is green underneath

ONE STEP FURTHER

Jaff is also paying attention to floral diversity by planting various flowering plants on the property. This will also feed and expand the bee hives they’re supporting.

Sacred basil has been planted throughout

Processing plant … and bee-friendly gardening.

Coming from the highly manicured crop that instant lawn is, Jaff confesses to being completely uncomfortable with the ‘overgrown’ state he is trying to embrace but the mac specialists he is engaging encourage him to look the other way and focus on the end goal as it’s the only way to farm sustainably. Together, they’ve come to understand that, if Jaff hates it, it’s probably good!

LAND PREP & PLANTING

On the farm Jaff first planted macs, they didn’t ridge and he has no regrets about that as the trees there seem to be doing just as well as the ones he has subsequently ridged.

Unridged 816s. 5 years old. The yield off these 3 hectares was 2 tonnes last season – not bad for slow-to-produce 816s

 Then everyone started telling Jaff how he really should be ridging … and so he’s heeded the advice for newer orchards.  As he has seen no difference between his ridged and unridged orchards, his counsel to other ‘young’ farmers is to do it IF you can afford to as the land work can be exorbitantly expensive OR if you really have to, in order to deal with specific issues like insufficient soil depth, drainage problems etc.

Jaff does concede that the ridges are nice in terms of keeping lines straight and controlling water flow.

“The soils here are 1/3 good, 1/3 average, 1/3 terrible,” laughs Jaff, “there’s nothing particularly great beside the odd patch of deep Huttons.” One farm they bought for macadamias was a pig farm and they ridged these in land prep. “In hindsight we probably only served to concentrate the ridiculously high P-levels even further when we ridged,” laments Jaff, “The kukuyu pastures were irrigated with manure from the pig sties – we were advised not to plant macs here at all but we decided to take the gamble.”

Jaff says they’ve had to supplement and correct and will continue to do so but it’s not looking too bad, given their low expectations. The A4s, and to a lesser extent, the Nelmak 2s, have been particularly susceptible to the high phosphorous – losing leaves etc but the 695 (Beaumonts) are doing fine. One of Jaff’s strategies to improve the soil on this farm is to mulch extensively by top dressing with husks and hay so that the roots can grow up, out of the toxic environment.

Jaff breaks husks down into a “powder”. You could already feel heat in the pile. Old hay bales are also incorporated before applying the mulch in the orchards

When it comes to planting, Jaff’s biggest advice is to make sure you watch the level – use a planting plank to make sure the tree isn’t buried too deep nor too shallow. (more on this in last month’s story https://www.tropicalbytes.co.za/2022-7-jaff-24/ )

Jaff puts the irrigation in before planting. He uses an 8m x 4m spacing although he thinks that, on A4 specifically, you could go to 8m x 3m. No fertiliser is placed in the hole at all, it’s simply dig, plant, cover, water.

Jaff has learnt a thing or two about cutting young trees back and advises that, as hard as it is, it’s worth it in the long run. He had an employee that cut A4s “back to their toenails” and, although he was furious about it at the time, he has come to see the benefits as these trees are now really well-shaped and sturdy.

Young A4s – were pruned “back to their toe nails” in the first year but it has served them well.

When it comes to staking, Jaff believes you only need to do the ones that require support – in his experience this means ALL A4s, some 695s, very few 816s.

Old pig farm. Employee residence in foreground. New mac orchards on the hill opposite.

Upright growing 816 orchards in beautifully ridged, sloping fields

Ridging

CULTIVARS

The “mac farm”, complete with a nursery, had a lot of stock when Jaff bought it. On closer inspection they discovered that the bagged trees were root stock and so Mrs Jaff took on the challenge of grafting. It took about 400 trees before they decided that buying in might be a better idea than running a mac nursery themselves.

In deciding which cultivars to grow, they chose to do an equal split between 3 main varieties; 695 (for early cashflow), 816 for quality and A4 … Jaff’s not sure why they chose this one anymore … it’s not his favourite. But I am certain this will change when they mature.

Jaff also has some Nelmak 2, 814s and A16s (incorrectly delivered as A4s). Despite their spindly growth pattern, Jaff says they haven’t been too bad.

So far, his favourite is 814 which has proven to be early producing, in good quantities, and of great quality.

Jaff struggles with the endless flowering typical of 695 and won’t be adding any more of those.

816 has been uncharacteristically easy on Jaff’s farm and he was surprised to hear that they can be ‘fussy’ as they’ve been the easiest in his view. Although it is early days – Jaff’s 816s are only 5 years old – he is very bullish about their performance and puts it down to the investment in soil health. He’s been adding metarhizium, trichoderma (fungi), as well as many trace minerals, natural stimulating hormones, enzymes and amino acids as part of a programme to promote overall, sustainable soil health.

Ridged 5 ½ years old Beaumonts (695)

814

Jaff says he has a hillside that requires terracing before he can plant macs there. He’s planning on using the ‘8’ family; either 814, 816, 842 & 849. He’s also going to try going without irrigation as this is a consistently damp piece of land.

 MORE ON SOIL CARE

Instant lawn has really shallow roots and the whole plant is removed, with the surface soil, when sold. Jaff’s journey into understanding deeper, permanent roots has been steep – the pig farm purchase made it steeper! Trying to manage the abnormally high phosphorous (and potassium) in these soils has necessitated a completely different strategy.

788s that have been struggling in the high P&K soils on this pig farm.

Phosphorous toxicity results in an iron deficiency which presents itself in the yellowing of the leaves. Had a good crop off these trees this season but the effects of low iron will play out in subsequent years so Jaff is working hard to correct it now. A4s (pictured here) and Nelmak 2 struggle whereas the 695s – not at all!

As mentioned, Jaff has chosen to adopt a biological strategy to enhance and stimulate soil life.

He also does soil and leaf sampling annually and follows the specialists’ block-specific programmes to supplement further. “It’s a fairly generic application,” says Jaff, “only the pig farm is significantly different to the others.” Jaff has also used foliar feeds to meet the tree’s requirements, especially in the toxic soils where iron is less available.

After an extensive soil health programme, Jaff reports that this 5-year-old Beaumont orchard has a magnificent root system – he knows because he’s actively dug down to check

IRRIGATION

When it comes to irrigation, Jaff prefers micros simply because the visual confirmation that everything is working as it should is reassuring. The water comes from the Umlaas river, where Jaff has ample irrigation rights to serve his expanding operation.

His advice on this topic is limited to ‘set up’ at this point; “It’s worth investing in a proper specialist to design and, if you can afford it, install the irrigation system.” He did all this himself, in the first 20 hectares and admits that it really isn’t ideal.

Moisture probes are Jaff’s latest investment in this regard and he’s really enjoying the insights; “Just being able to see when the trees are transpiring is fascinating,” says Jaff.

Although he appreciates the value of managed irrigation, Jaff is going to try going dryland with the next 15 hectares; planned for a naturally ‘damp’ slope. He is hopeful that it will succeed given that he has barely used irrigation at all this year. Watch this space.

PRUNING

The trees are still largely ‘pre-production’ so there’s no way to verify whether Jaff’s pruning is yielding the desired outcomes of quality and quantity but they certainly LOOK great. Open, strong and well-shaped.

His strategy has been to create vertical branches at all levels and an overall Christmas tree shape. He’s used both cutting and manual manipulation to achieve this.

Early on, tall trees are cut right down if they’re too spindly or not branching.

Flush ends are tipped where Jaff wants to stimulate further branching.

Tipping to stimulate branching. 1 – locate the tip, 2 – break it off, 3 – gone, 4 – the result (a few months later) – new branches coming from the tipping point.

Jaff has used plastic forks to open crotch angles but prefers the elastics used in the citrus industry (see pic below) as they don’t fall off in the wind but they do perish and fall off the tree once the job is done.

Elastics were used on this 816 tree last year – evidenced by the lower branches

Once the trees become more established and are being harvested (even just a little), Jaff carries out “two-cut” pruning … wherein two (vertical) branches, that are competing with central leader, are removed. This allows additional light in. Jaff has found the 814 & Nelmak 2 cultivars seem to hold their shape nicely, once you get the branches open (down) but he finds 695 to be a ‘clumpy’ tree.

Last year he did a ‘heavier prune’ to remove anything that competed with the central leader.

This 695 orchard was pruned heavily last year. This is berea grass that was mowed for harvest (no herbicides) and won’t be mowed again until next year’s harvest. Also clear in this pic are the subtle ridges Jaff has used in some orchards

Although Jaff is reluctant to accept that he knows something, it’s clear that his pruning is producing well-lit trees as shown by this beautiful specimen of a 695.

Jaff will mow over these prunings to incorporate into a mulch which will be pushed under the trees by the side discharge mower. These are the A4 ‘pig farm’ orchards that Jaff wants to supplement heavily with mulch to get their roots out of the soil.

Jaff is happy with the shape and light accessing these 695s. Always looking for ways to improve, he adds that he will pay some attention to the skirts now so that he has a clear view of what’s happening on the soil surface. Interesting to note that this is also on the ‘pig farm’ but the 695s have not struggled with the high P like the A4s have.

POLLINATION, HARVESTING & PROCESSING

As mentioned, Jaff is encouraging bees on to the farm; they already have about 20 hives and hope to build up to about 150 eventually. They are spinning the combs and selling the honey. All insects are welcome though as Jaff was interested to read recently that one of his neighbours believes that a lot of his mac pollination is being done by the flies that are attracted to the extensive chicken sheds on his farm.

Harvesting is still a low-key affair and Jaff is trying to figure out the best practices. They’ve just put in a dehusker and delivered 22 tonnes to the processor this year. Jaff hopes to double that next year.

CHALLENGES

Despite it being early days, Jaff has already had to deal with a few challenges. Some, like the frost damage, were expected. Hopefully, this year, he’s found the solution – a frost blanket around the tree, filled with hay; the top is left open. Jaff is prepared to lose leaves on top but says that at least the stem and lower branches will be saved. He’s learnt this method from an avo farmer in Richmond.

Frost protection

 Another weather-related adversary is hail which struck the farm in March last year. Despite the extensive damage, no trees died and there were no fungal infestations in the wounds. Jaff believes this is because of the healthy soils in these particular orchards.

Hail damage. Jaff painted the wounds with PVA (nothing else) once, after the storm, and the trees recovered well. Lots of immature nuts were knocked out of the trees

In fact, there is very little phytophthora anywhere on the farm. When it does appear, trees are individually treated.

 Load shedding has been a proper challenge, especially for irrigation. While Jaff has inverters for office and home use, they can’t drive the irrigation. Instant lawn is heavily reliant on scheduled water and the (often 3 times per day) power cuts are causing untold issues. Another frustrating aspect of load shedding is how it affects communication as the cellphone towers don’t work.

In terms of insects, Jaff has no thrips pressure at all and even the nut borer are manageable. It’s really only the stink bugs that are becoming a pest (pun intended 😉).

The 3,5-year-old Nelmak 2s had the most nut borer damage this year while all cultivars suffered stink bug damage.

We expected to see a nut borer inside this shell … but we found large ANTS!! Did they follow the borer in?

There’s no doubt that Jaff 25’s mac operation is going to excel! Being there in the beginning has been a privilege – thank you for your time and sharing. We will watch this space with anticipation.

Until next time, adios!