“It was a bit late in the season to propagate, however I cut some bud wood from the branch, took them to our nursery, budded up some stock and it was successful. In this way, we started propagating straight away.” He explains that, in the following spring, PBR trials were set up which meant top working some mature trees to the new candidate, as well as existing early navel varieties, in a certain pattern in order to compare it.
This variety is ready three weeks earlier than the Navelina variety which usually starts harvest in early May. “You could pick the M7 in the first week of April but our philosophy is to wait until you have a fruit with a really nice eating quality, and this year there are indications that we could extract a better price out of the market due to the optimum eating quality. We could try to market it early but I think it's better to maintain the integrity and reputation of the variety."
This year packers Mildura Fruit Company (MFC) and Sim Fresh are working together and have put a program together for Coles Supermarket. MFC has also organised a couple of containers to go overseas to Hong Kong, China and some to Europe.“The M7 has been on the market for around three years but this is probably the first year that we will have enough fruit to have a decent impact on the market,” explains Greg.
While it started in Australia, the M7 is also starting to be produced in Spain, New Zealand, California, Chile and some other countries.
For more information:
Greg ChislettChislett Developments
Tel: +61 3 5038 8238
Email: greg@chislettnavel.com.au
www.chislettnavel.com.au
