Despite a cold snap in October, orchardists in the Central Otago region, located in the southeast of New Zealand's South Island, are expecting a bumper crop of almonds and berries this season, with harvesting set to begin later this month.
The strong storm weather of New Zealand's Labour Day (the fourth Monday in October) coincided almost exactly with the cold front of the previous season, but growers report that the subsequent warm weather has allowed the crops to recover significantly.
Peter Bennie, owner of the Leaning Rock cherry orchard, said the outlook for the season is positive, with early varieties in the Alexandra orchard set to start harvesting on November 25. Michael Jones, a grower in Cromwell, noted that the cool weather has caused a slight delay in the development of almonds, but Burlatt almonds will be available locally in early December. The peak of the harvest usually occurs in mid-December, just in time to meet the market demand during the Christmas period. Michael also revealed that the first export varieties are expected to start harvesting in the first week of December.
Matt Tyrrell, manager of Gourmet Summerfruit, oversees 32 hectares of almond orchards and 16 hectares of blueberry orchards in the eastern district of Roxburgh. He said that the recent warm weather has significantly promoted fruit growth. Although the strong winds and low temperatures at the beginning of the season affected flowering, the addition of bee boxes has effectively improved pollination, and the orchards are now in the natural fruit drop period.
Although some areas of Central Otago experienced a heavy snowfall on October 28, followed by warmer weather, the growth of fruit trees has quickly recovered, and the harvesting time is in line with last year. Matt said that he has already started increasing fertilizer to ensure the healthy growth of the crops and to reduce the burden on the trees. Gourmet Summerfruit expects to start harvesting late-season almond varieties in early January, with blueberries starting to be picked around December 18.
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