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Tamarillo ripen at Robyn Wickenden and Aaron Davies’ orchard at Maungatapere, Northland
TPP putting tamarillo growers under stress Hot, dry summers and mild winters are putting extra pressure on the country’s tamarillo growers as Tomato Potato Psyllid (TPP) populations thrive. HELENA O’NEILL talks with Robyn Wickenden about how her Northland orchard is coping.
Robyn Wickenden and Aaron Davies bought a onehectare tamarillo orchard just out of Maungatapere, Northland in late 2016. From there operating Mya Enterprises Ltd has been a steep learning curve in growing, picking, grading and selling tamarillos. Just two years later Robyn became secretary for the NZ Tamarillo Growers Association (NZTGA), and in March 2020 was made its chairperson. And if battling a pandemic wasn’t hard enough, the Tomato Potato Psyllid (TPP) has been prolific leading to widespread Liberibacter infections on tamarillo orchards, particularly in Northland.
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The ORCHARDIST : APRIL 2022
“Last year and the year before, we had two really dry, hot summers and mild winters. The psyllid absolutely blitzed everybody. This is one of the reasons we’ve gone down to such small grower numbers, people have decided to give up growing.” Aaron and Robyn were one of just two tamarillo growers who exported the fruit last year. “This year we won’t be exporting, we just won’t have the fruit.” TPP was first detected around Pukekohe in tomatoes and potatoes in 2008, and the insect spread very rapidly to all growing areas during 2009 and 2010. TPP lives and reproduces on all plants
