As was the situation last season, there was plenty of winter chilling, although with a later start to accumulation than in 2024. The timing of bud break and bloom have been normal, there has been fruit set on all of the five fruit types, although there is a question around some plums. So, enough chilling, soil moisture levels were OK at this time, the bees flew when needed, and there have been few rainfall events to cause disease issues.
The earliest cherry variety was picked during the first week of November, with other varieties being harvested as the month progresses. The eating quality of the later picked varieties will improve as the month goes on, and for the first time ever the industry is thinking of exporting cherries from Hawkes Bay. I’ll be watching this space with interest with respect to quality and how well it dovetails into the export fruit from Central Otago. There are plenty of export registered packing sheds that might benefit from some work pre-Christmas.
Nectarine harvest started in the second week of November and by the end of the month all fruit types will be available in good volumes.
To quote Bruce McKay again, our best years are drought years, as long as there is water for irrigation. My son-in-law on a local dairy farm says that this calendar year has seen the lowest rainfall total since he has been keeping records with a significant number of February like highs, and three weeks of wind, soil moisture levels need a top up. We will be watching to see if the predicted La Nina conditions appear and when, and then what the impacts might be. For stonefruit growers, lower sunshine levels will be one of the key indicators influencing fruit quality, again assuming water can be applied.
The lower intake of Golden Queen and Tatura Star canning peaches by Heinz-Wattie may cause some winkles in the market in February this season and possibly next season as well. The mitigations that Watties have been put in place for contract growers of these peaches would seem to be a good market facing initiative. From here supply and demand will sort out how many of these trees survive in the ground.
In recent weeks Summerfruit NZ has successfully run a levy renewal process that was supported by a good majority of growers and gone through a reasonably non-contentious AGM. So all-in-all stonefruit is lining up, at his stage, for a good season. The icing on the cake might be an economy that is feeling more buoyant than it is at the moment.
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