Central Otago apricot growers are hopeful for a bumper crop this year, after a few challenging seasons. Simon Webb of Cromwell, who grows 12 different apricot varieties, says last season’s snow event in mid-October wiped out much of his crop, but this year it is quite a different story.
"We have bucket loads of high quality fruit. Apricots are biennial and they have set really well this year, thanks to great weather for pollination. We’re already talking to the supermarkets so they are prepared and can promote the abundance well, particularly as the fruit will be at good prices.”
As well as a large crop, Simon is confident the fruit will be of good quality as well. “They seem to stay firmer and don’t all ripen at once.”
In early November, a lot of time was invested into thinning out the fruit, with up to 90 percent of the apricot crop pulled off the trees.
“We’re pretty much taking off eight to one, because apricots are really variable in their pollination so we had a lot more flowers on the trees. “We pruned harder in the winter, but it’s still a heavy crop.”
Peaches and nectarines are also looking good, and there should be plenty of staff this season for picking, with numbers back up to what they used to be pre-Covid-19.
Down in the Teviot Valley, grower Stephen Darling says a good fruit set has made for a positive start to the apricot season, but cooler days during October to November pushed back the harvest time.
“We’re looking forward to seeing volumes of the new varieties coming through, but we have to get the fruit off the orchard first and then to market.”
Being cautiously optimistic, he says this season there is a good opportunity to look at restarting export programmes for apricots, to help stabilise the market.
Stephen is chair of NZ Summer Fresh, which represents more than 20 growers nationwide who are growing the new NZsummer 2, 3 and 4 varieties. “Across the Teviot Valley, we have been fortunate to have two good weeks of critical flowering and pollination after some tough frosts last year.”
The later harvest early in the New Year would make it easier to find staff after everyone has had their holidays. Stephen said 2017 and 2018 were both bumper crops with record volumes of apricots and an early harvest, but it did clash with the holiday period.
Summerfruit NZ technical advisor Richard Mills says moderate apricot volumes in Hawke’s Bay this year will lead to a slightly earlier harvest. “If the weather systems equally affect both regions, then the full crop in Central Otago could be slightly delayed. “These factors help alleviate the possible competitive crossover with the large Central Otago crop,” he says.
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