Despite the busy time of the season, the field walk in Central Otago last week was well attended by growers who in all cases either had Nzsummer series apricots in the ground or are about to receive trees for planting this winter.
Nzsummer 3 ready for tasting
After an update from Gary Bennetts on behalf of the Apricot Co Interim Board, Claire Scofield from Plant & Food Research kicked off a discussion around key aspects of the new varieties. Gary then led growers in sharing their experiences with the varieties in their own orchards. Questions were asked around pollination, harvest and maturity tools along with longer term elements of the proposed cooperative model and collaborative marketing programme (still very much in the early development phase).
The group enjoyed sampling fresh and stored Nzsummer2 and Nzsummer3 apricots, completing tasting questionnaires to gauge their experiences of the samples. Thanks to Plant & Food Research, Gary Bennetts and Jered Tate for providing the fruit on the day.
Jered Tate provides hands on observations from his trial block on Fairview Orchard
The group then moved to Jered Tate’s block of Nzsummer3, discussing their observations of the trees still bearing fruit, making comparisons to their own plantings and generating some interesting new conversations.
Thanks again to everyone involved including those that attended both field walks along with Roger, Gary and Jered for hosting growers on their orchards. Also, thanks to the team at Plant & Food Research for their time and the information they provided the growers on the day.
If you would like a copy of the Nzsummer2 and Nzsummer3 growers’ leaflet there are printed copies available from our office or you can download it as a PDF from the Summerfruit NZ portal under Main Menu/Publications/Orchard management/Apricot Co Nzsummer series brochure.