Kiwifruit Journal Articles

Sean Carnachan

Katikati

After the Easter weather event, it really emphasised how important it is to keep monitoring and using crop protection programmes. It was an eye-opener to show the growers what was in their orchard and that the bacteria was still around – lots of juvenile wood with wind-rub was quite clearly showing signs of Psa.
We had a great harvest and our Gold3 crops were stunning. We had amazing pack-outs with large, clean fruit and it handled beautifully through picking and the pack-houses.
Gold9 crops were also outstanding – we ranged from between 16,000 and 23,000 te/ha, with better dry matter this year and better size. It also picked well this year and as the vines mature, the stalks seem to be snapping off a lot cleaner.
Dry matters were a little bit down in Hayward crops on previous years, although size and yields were both good.
We were incident-free until two big frosts late in the harvest – the second one got down to -2.8degC, which is the coldest I’ve ever had it in May. All the fruit in frost-prone orchards should’ve been off but there were a few caught out and some of that fruit might be concerning.
The frosts contributed to our longest picking day ever – we had a crew that started at 8am and finished at 1.25am the next morning!
There will be very little Gold3 grafted this winter because most people have already mopped up any licenses still out there. The alarming thing is potentially how well it’s going to yield in years to come and how we’re going to manage the volumes of fruit post-harvest.
In terms of where we have been in the last few years, they are good problems to have though!

Mark Hudson

Whakatane

Whakatane growers finished harvesting by the start of June, which is the earliest for some years. Good teamwork between growers, contractors and pack-houses has enabled this, along with the most favourable weather. The region also had an abundance of harvesting capability, to get the crop off at the optimum time.
The most challenging aspect of the season has been the picking and grading of hail-damaged fruit, stemming from a storm in mid-January.
The extent of the damage was often worse than expected and the undamaged fruit did not size up, due to the poor canopy which was also damaged by the hail. Many affected growers did not thin, hoping to maximise Class 2 returns, but this meant some lines had 60-70 percent non-Class 1 fruit that was very slow to grade and pack.
Hayward crops were generally much better than last year with less flower drop.
Green14 crops were, on the whole, disappointing with small fruit and possible pollination issues. To top it off, blocks suffered from fruit drop of hard and softer fruit just prior to harvesting.
Those growers who still have Gold9 had excellent crops of large fruit. Some growers had issues of out-of-line maturity, with a portion of fruit remaining unripe.
Gold3 crops came off well, at better than estimate and with high taste. For most growers, this was their first crop. Growers are looking forward to possibly doubling their crop next year with the quantity of cane they have to tie down.

Paul Jones

Te Puke

Growers and packhouses are celebrating the completion of a very successful harvest season.
Te Puke picking conditions were unusually favourable and, coupled with excellent quality crops, meant that the picking teams and post-harvest were able to process crops in record time. Everybody should have made it to the Fieldays this year!
Crop quality was outstanding overall, with the Hayward size ideal for Zespri’s requirements. Te Puke Hayward orchards at lower elevations generally saw a heartening recovery from the Psa- affected volumes of 2013. The new variety crops were also very rewarding, with many Gold3 and Gold9 orchards exceeding pre- harvest estimates. However, Green14 continues to be problematic this year due to on-orchard fruit drop and overripe fruit.
Winter arrived rapidly in the last week of May with two severe frosts, around -3degC in exposed areas. This has done a great job of removing the leaves and gaining some worthwhile winter chill units.
Te Puke, the first area to crash when Psa arrived, has now become the epicentre for orchard value recovery, which has seen a dramatic lift to pre-Psa values.
We now look forward to a Psa-kind winter and a continuation of increasing grower confidence. Best of all, we have a hungry marketplace for our 2014 crops!
Best regards to all growers for the coming season.

Read in Magazine

Dennis Robinson

Te Puke

The beautiful fine weather in late March and early April enabled the industry to get off a fantastic start in the 2014 harvest season.
With the markets generally in short supply of fruit, they await the first shipments with eagerness.
Good cooperation between growers and post-harvest operators enabled the first shipments to Japan and Europe laden with great quality, high dry matter kiwifruit.
There has also been some consolidation in exporters supplying Australia with Class 2 fruit, which will hopefully flow through to better returns for growers in this important market.
Another Queensland fruit fly find reminds us that we are only as strong as our weakest link and that we must remain vigilant. Biosecurity must remain a focus.
Hot summer temperatures may have reduced the Psa risk but growers need to stay focused on their best practice post-harvest management techniques.

Evan Heyward

Nelson

Nelson has experienced an exceptionally dry autumn, with only one rain event recorded through most of February and March. That was the sub-tropical low – formerly Cyclone Lusi - that moved down the country, dropping a much-needed 70-100mm of rain across the Tasman region.
All kiwifruit varieties are tracking well in both size and dry matter, with the Gold varieties looking especially good.
The apple season continues to run at least seven days ahead of normal and the big question growers have down here had was will the kiwifruit be similarly early?
On behalf of all Nelson growers, I wish everyone a successful season ahead.

Dave Mackie

Hawke’s Bay

Since my last roundup, Hawke’s Bay has had two more orchards with positive Psa results and these growers are cutting and spraying to contain any further spread.
The Hawke’s Bay weather has been favorable to growers with hot, dry conditions. The mercury hit 36degC in my orchard at 3pm one Saturday - apple pickers melt at this point!
Harvest started in week 12 and growers are working in with the apple harvest to get the crop off.
Labour is OK at the moment, as there are backpackers around to fill any gaps created by competition between crops. All the varieties are looking good for size and dry matter.
Hort16A conversion to Gold3 is continuing and other Gold3 crops are now getting to full canopy, with very good results. Green crops are above average for size this year and looking clean. KVH has been holding meetings in Hawke’s Bay and these have been well attended and helpful reminders to growers not to let our guard down.
Water hasn’t been as much of an issue this year as it was last year. Twyford growers have used a global consent system this year and have had no restrictions, only using less than a third of the consented volume.
Wishing the industry a happy harvest and long may the good weather last.

Chris Anstis

Opotiki

Picking has been underway for a couple of weeks now and it has been a good start to the season.
The dry period we have been through does appear to be slowing the sizing on the Green, where good-looking crops in January didn’t quite have the same look in late March.
They were still OK but not what we thought they would be. Young blocks of Gold3 are just starting to reach maximum dry matter accumulation and good brix levels to harvest but there is a bit of trepidation on handling lines of fruit with average sizes of 150g.
With the second dry, warm summer behind us, Psa has been low-key for the last couple of months. It does, however, still need focus through harvest and protecting vines after picking is paramount for a good start in spring.
Let’s also hope the second Queensland fruit fly incursion turns out to be just a lone male fly and that we don’t have another new pest or disease to manage in both the orchard and supply chain.

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Mark Hudson

Whakatane

Whakatane growers have come through a favourable winter with less rain than recent years, so hopefully there will be less stressed plants in low-lying areas.
There also seems less Psa pressure than last spring, as the weather has continued its friendly trend and growers have generally been spraying more protective sprays.
There is much discussion between growers on the complexity of the spraying programme for Psa and crop protection. Growers with four varieties of kiwifruit are finding it particularly challenging.
They need to ensure the correct products are used for each variety, at the correct time, around favourable weather and the varied flowering times of the different varieties.
Growers need to plan and be mindful of advanced week control, bee introduction times, staff work rosters, communicating with neighbours and maintaining reliable spray equipment.
Most importantly, growers need to take every precaution to ensure absolute food safety and no contamination of fruit.

Don Kemp

Kerikeri

The most important thing for Kerikeri growers is there is no Psa showing – we’ve had nothing since the one 12 months ago that put us into a containment region. The block in question has already been cut out and is likely to be pulled out completely as an added precaution. If Psa doesn’t turn up again in the next couple of months, we’re hopeful we can return to being an exclusion region again.
That will just make life a little bit easier for things like movement of plant material and monitoring, as well as giving us some peace of mind.
Most of our monitoring is done by the packhouses monthly but the minute Psa is found, it will go to weekly monitoring. The good news is that everyone is now on board with the monitoring and that’s great for growers to know their neighbours are taking the same steps they are. In some ways, Psa has drawn the area together. You’re no longer trying to hide anything from anyone else because we all have exactly the same focus.
Budbreak is always a little bit later for us than the Bay of Plenty and we saw a very big fruit-set on the Hort16A, Hayward is mixed, Gold9 is superb and Gold3 is extremely mixed. Some orchards had no buds showing while others were in full flower – that’s probably to do with the type of wood, the timing of Hi-Cane® and maybe the pruning. It’s still a bit of a mystery up in Kerikeri so of course, we’re getting very mixed results.
Overall, Kerikeri growers are very positive. The growers aren’t even crossing their fingers at the moment – we know we’re in a good position. We’ve even had some buyers looking at orchards at prices near where they were pre-Psa, which is a great sign.

Dennis Robinson

Te Puke

Kiwifruit growers around New Zealand need to be aware of a major strategy project, focused on ‘Developing a sustainable and long-term plan to maximise the wealth of New Zealand kiwifruit growers’.
It’s vitally important all growers have their say on this, so we can move forward as one unified body.
In Te Puke, we’re cautiously optimistic for this coming season after what we’ve seen in the last few months. The long, dry summer last year probably wasn’t so good for fruit size but there’s always a tradeoff with Psa – combined with a mild winter, it looks to have helped in the spring.
I can see this on my own orchard - last year, I cut out a lot more than I have this year – probably around four or five rubbish bins – but this year, it’s only been about half a dozen canes so far.
Leaf spotting turned up really early but it also hasn’t eventuated to as much this season.
Spraying programmes are making a big difference, as is sticking to rigid hygiene and management plans as well and we all need to continue that in future. Psa is here to stay and we’ll have good years and bad years, depending on weather. Research shows us that the more-proactive people are doing better than the less-proactive people.
Timely work is also really important – get out on nice fine days, then follow it up with protective sprays.
This summer, we’re hoping for enough rain to boost fruit growth, without being too much to affect the work on the orchard.

Sean Carnachan

Katikati

Spring has been fairly kind to Katikati growers in that we haven’t had to battle many frosts and it’s been relatively dry. That’s taken a bit of pressure off us with Psa.
The interesting thing, however, is there have been a few growers with spotting on their leaves for the first time this spring. That’s shocked a few of them and made them realise that Psa is around – some of them were getting a little bit blasé about it – and they’ve upped their crop protection programme accordingly.
Because there’s a good payout this year, most growers have the cashflow to do something if it needs to be done. The Gold growers were doing it anyway because they’ve got a high-value crop but some of the Hayward growers were initially a bit reluctant, until the spotting jolted them into action.
The encouraging thing is more Katikati growers are networking with Te Puke growers, who have been through Psa worse than us. We can learn a lot from them and they’ve got case studies on what to do and what not to do.
I can’t stress enough the importance of vigilance and monitoring. The monitoring is two- fold – as well as checking for current symptoms, it gives a base reading by region and gives us historical data to reflect on in future seasons.
We’ll be able to better prepare ourselves, based on weather patterns and how to adjust our crop protection.
Generally, as a region, everyone in Katikati is a lot more at ease with the position they’re in and they’re a lot more confident about both Gold and Hayward.

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Paul Jones

Te Puke

The early spring situation in Te Puke is very encouraging. The expression of Psa is at very low levels with very little ooze in female vines of all varieties – hopefully this continues throughout spring - although there are some low-level secondary symptoms showing up in male vines in the coldest orchards.
Budburst is now well advanced on the gold varieties and is generally looking exceptionally good. It’s likely flower numbers will be high and growers need to ensure they have a realistic target on the crop load that should be carried. We need to be particularly mindful of the need to produce high dry matter, because the 2014 harvest will see the first decent volume of Gold3 available to the marketplace and it will set the volume for a much greater scene in 2015. Ongoing great taste is really important.
With the cool storage season virtually finished, our post-harvest providers have really enjoyed the excellent fruit storage and low level of onshore fruit loss this year.
This is very much to the benefit of growers and the overall pool. We’re looking forward to another great summer and the continuing successful battle against Psa.

Dave Mackie

Hawke’s Bay

There’s a fair amount of disappointment in our region at the moment.
Hawke’s Bay growers were truly upset that a Bay of Plenty grower took it upon themselves to put all Hawke’s Bay growers at risk by moving plant material from Gisborne to Bay of Plenty, then to Hawke’s Bay.
This was utterly stupid, as all the information for the past year out of the northern hemisphere was that plant material remained the biggest source of infection for the spread of Psa in those countries.
As at late September, Hawke’s Bay growers were first to reach 100 percent for the mandatory monitoring of Psa, which shows Hawke’s Bay growers are completely and actively engaged in keeping Psa under tight control. At the time of writing, there are still only two orchards that have had positive results and we’ve had no spread, though it was disconcerting to learn the first report of Psa had come out of the Wanganui area.
The Gold bud break is looking very good the season for both Hort16A and Gold3, with Hayward also breaking as I write this. So far, spring has been a lot nicer this year, with fewer frosts and milder conditions.

Chris Anstis

Opotiki

Our post-harvest operators are keeping a keen eye on the Hayward fruit in store to see if it is tracking along with the good results they have had this season.
Spring is marching on and everything is waking up. Psa is returning to the forefront of peoples’ minds as symptoms become more apparent. With the wholesale removal of Hort16A around the region, the amount of reported infection has dropped but year-on-year comparisons for September in the same blocks seems to show infection is at a similar level.
It is looking to be a good budburst on the gold varieties around the region and hopefully the Mesurol shortage will not cause too many issues. There will need to be careful management of the gold canopies and crop-loading to ensure dry matter at harvest is not compromised.
We are just beginning the hectic run to December, with intense Psa protection programmes, early-season vine management, and prepping bee keepers for pollination. It’s time for a deep breath...

Evan Heywood

Nelson

After a reasonably “normal” winter with good winter chilling, budbreak for all varieties appears to be good and even. As at late September, Hort16A shoots are 75–100mm long, while Gold3 and Hayward are at budbreak.
Many growers have again been busy grafting Gold3 onto both Hayward and Hort16A vines, with results looking promising at this stage after a good winter grafting window.
Nelson remains free from Psa – however, not without an incident or two.
Several weeks ago, a nursery in Motueka was discovered with kiwifruit plants sent down from a North Island nursery, which was fully aware of the voluntary movement protocols we had in place. The National Pest Management Strategy was not yet implemented so no formal action could be taken. It does illustrate how vigilant we as growers must remain against either the ignorance or stupidity of a few whose attitude defies logic. Unfortunately, they are out there!
I urge Nelson growers to keep up their vine-monitoring, as early detection is critical. Hawke’s Bay and Northland growers have demonstrated this, with regular copper applications over the spring period equally as important.

Read in Magazine

Dennis Robinson

Te Puke

Te Puke kiwifruit growers are waiting anxiously for spring to see what the impact of Psa will be. Overseas experience has shown us that those who have a protection program in place may be better off than those who don’t. We cannot afford to be complacent.
The Te Puke area produced some record crops but also some disappointing crops and you can’t help but feel this may be a pattern that continues.
The long, hot, dry summer was good for the control of Psa but it did impact on fruit size in some cases.
NZKGI has begun a new term with some new members and some younger members, which is great to see.
The core projects still remain – these include protection and retention of the SPE, increasing grower returns and transparency, grower welfare in the in the face of Psa, plus training and up-skilling the workforce.
We remain cautiously optimistic about the year ahead.

Mark Gardiner

Waikato

While we’re all waiting with bated breath to see what transpires over springtime, July turned out to be a really good month for getting on and doing things like pruning and grafting.
You quite often get fogs in the Waikato which can slow things down and is less than ideal for pruning and grafting.
We’re having to be more weather-conscious as we’re pruning and working the orchards – we tend to be chasing gangs out of situations where we don’t want them pruning in less than ideal conditions. It makes it harder for pruning gangs too, because you can’t just soldier on like you used to. We’re more particular about using the best weather for the right job.
We’ve got quite a diverse area in climate and topography, with orchards from Te Kuiti to Paeroa to Huntly and it covers a large area but overall, it’s been a reasonably mild winter and generally less frosts than other years. It’s also been drier than we anticipated, despite being wet earlier on.
Psa still isn’t widespread but there have been a number of Waikato growers taking up the opportunity to diversify into Gold3 and most of the Hort16A has now been changed over.
We’ll be watching that fairly intensely to see how the conversion over from Hort16A goes.

Carol Craig

Auckland/Franklin

We had a good harvest in the Auckland region with size and taste higher than usual in the Green, although the Hort 16a size was down - the cold spring played havoc and it was cold during pollination.
The late rain near harvest helped some of the sizes and it’s been keeping well in storage.
It’s been a warmer than usual winter but we have had some frosts and we’ve still had some winter chill.
We’re all holding our breath and waiting to see what happens with Psa in the spring. We were up to 38 infected orchards by the end of summer and we’ve only had one more since then, so the fine weather has been marvellous but we’re wondering what will happen with the spring. If it’s cold and wet, things could go pear-shaped.
In the Auckland region, we’ve got growers trying a few different things on top of the copper sprays, so we’re all very interested to see how that works for them, while there’s been a good uptake of the new varieties up here.

Andrew Hill

Coromandel

Our harvest was an interesting one - we’ve got mainly Gold on our own orchard and we had the lowest production for years due to fruit size. That was mainly because of pollination and spring weather and that was general throughout the area for Gold growers.
Green crops were much better off and didn’t have the same sort of issues – one local guy told me he’d had his best crop ever.
Around 40 percent of the orchards in our area have been impacted by Psa and there has been some conversion, mainly to G3. While the symptom levels over the winter have been really low and we didn’t see much progression during the past summer, spring will be different and we’ll see symptoms pop up. It will just be a case of wait and see.
As this magazine is coming out, we’ll be taking a close look at our Gold crops to see what’s happening. Hopefully the actions taken over the winter will keep the inoculum levels down and we won’t get a cold, wet spring.
We certainly haven’t seen the same winter chilling as previous years but it’s been great weather to get on and do your work. We’re ahead on pruning and all the orchard work and most people have finished their grafting.

A roundup from the Kiwifruit growing regions during this Issue.

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A roundup from the Kiwifruit growing regions during this Issue.

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A roundup from the Kiwifruit growing regions during this Issue.

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A roundup from the Kiwifruit growing regions during this Issue.

Continue reading