David and Judi Grey grow avocados on their 13-hectare orchard in Waerenga-a-Hika, near Gisborne; they produce close to 24 tons of avocados each year. That’s ‘Hass’ avocados.
However, there has been an extra ton of avocados grown recently, consisting of the ‘GreyStar’, ‘Eclipse’ and ‘Titan’ varieties. This green-skinned trio is attracting a great deal of interest across the country and overseas.
Out of a slew of new seedlings, the first to be earmarked for continuation was ‘GreyStar’, “because it was very precocious”. ‘Titan’ was noted too “because it was so big. It can get up to 800 or 900g sometimes.”
There were about 10 selections that were quite good, says David, but they eventually went with just the three because of the costs and requirements for Plant Variety Rights, which they now have for all three trees. Also, they are mature at different times, with ‘Titan’ first in November, ‘GreyStar’ from December on, and ‘Eclipse’ very late from March onwards through the winter months. “We aimed for quality first, then flavour and production,” says Judi.
Source: stuff.co.nz
