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Calla (Zantedeschia Spreng.) growers were studied as members of an expanding sector in the New Zealand floricultural industry. The calla sector is characterized by diverse-size firms scattered throughout the two main islands of New Zealand. Growers differ in their skill and experience with calla production. Problems are both grower-specific (e.g., control of diseases, postharvest disorders) and sector-wide. Examples of the latter include the prioritizing and funding research, interacting with science organizations and planning sector marketing strategy. Both sets of problems have been exacerbated by the progressive withdrawal of research and extension support services traditionally provided by government agencies. There is competition between the floriculture industry and calla sector-based grower organizations. The leadership role of a strong grower organization, in this case the New Zealand Calla Council (NZCC), is seen as an essential forum for growers, and as the link between growers, exporter organizations, scientists and central government. Good communications between the industry organization and growers is essential to identify and prioritizeproblems and to transfer information to individual growers through workshops, newsletters and manuals. To maintain its effectiveness, the NZCC does not satisfy the needs of smaller growers at the expense of the larger, influential growers. Rather, it seeks to the benefit the latter by upgrading the skill level of the industry, and by undertaking tasks too large for any individual business.
The design of a type of drainage lysimeter, as tested with trees of Pyrus serotina Rehder var. culta Rehder `Hosui' is described. All lysimeter operations and monitoring of irrigation and drainage volumes were managed by a “multi-tasking” controller/datalogger. It was possible to apply different irrigation levels to each of three sets of four random lysimeters. Evapotranspiration (ET) was calculated using a conservation of water equation, with differences between irrigation inputs and drainage outputs corrected for changes in soil-water content. ET ranged between 3.3 and 10.7 liters/tree per day in well-watered, noncropped trees in late Summer and Fall 1990. These rates correspond to ET of 0.13 to 0.43 liter·cm-2·day-1 and 0.96 to 3.10 liters·m-2·day-1 on trunk cross-sectional area and canopy area bases, respectively. The correlation coefficient between ET and Class A pan evaporation was >0.9 during this period. Weekly crop coefficients for the well-watered trees averaged 0.52 when calculated on a canopy-area basis. When irrigation was withheld for 18 days, the crop coefficient declined to 0.38. There were no differences in ET between trees growing in the two soil profiles, despite significant differences in soil water distribution.