Windstorm’s impact will be far reaching

Barry‘s orchard vehicle is an aging VW Golf he ‘converted’ to fit under the vines when it failed yet another warrant

The full impacts of ex-cyclone Dovi which hit Bay of Plenty kiwifruit orchards on February 13 might not be known until the 2023 harvest, says kiwifruit grower and president of HortNZ, Barry O’Neil.

Elaine Fisher

The high winds brought down trees and shelter across some orchard blocks, blew down string poles, stripped fruit and leaves from vines and damaged replacement canes, leaving growers with massive clean-up and repair work just weeks before the harvest began.

Barry says some growers will have less export fruit and possibly higher reject rates due to wind damaged fruit, but the big concern is also for how the vines will fare through to the next harvest.

“On my orchard the leaves have gone from leader canes I want to lay down for next season and some have been terminated by the wind. They have produced new shoots but not the fruiting wood I want.” He’s also concerned about an increased risk of infection by the vine disease Psa-V, especially in younger vines where bark has been damaged by wind rub, and those which have been stressed by the storm. “I will tie down what I can and take the risk of Psa. There are treatments we can use to help protect the vines, including copper and Aureo Gold, but at this time of the season you have to be careful because of the risk of fruit staining.” Sunburn is another factor. “The wind has taken leaves off the canopy, especially in the outside rows, allowing the sun to penetrate and burning the skin on exposed fruit. These fruit are exploders. They are soft and will explode on the grader, so I will be employing staff to go through and remove the damaged fruit before harvest. “It is fortunate that the fruit is less sensitive this time of year to rubbing damage. If we had had these winds in December, it

A young block of gold kiwifruit on Barry‘s orchard was worst hit by the windstorm Sunburn to fruit, caused after leaves were blown off the sheltering canopy, is of concern this harvest

could have meant the loss of 30 to 40 percent of the crop. The fruit is hardier now so there should be less rejects.” Barry’s six-hectare orchard on the shores of the upper Tauranga harbour, is just north of Katikati. It is made up of 1.5 canopy hectares of conventional gold fruit grafted in 2010 and 2.5 canopy hectares of organic gold planted two years ago. Ex-cyclone Dovi’s winds came from the northwest on 13 February, a direction his orchard is not well sheltered from. “This was just really horrible gusty wind. I was monitoring a neighbour’s weather station which recorded wind gusts of 100km but they got so strong the gauge stopped working so I don’t know what speed gusts actually got up to. “The wind came over the shelter and down like a curl, damaging the outside rows – most of them were trashed, leaves gone or damaged and a lot of fruit on the ground.” Damage was even worse among the younger organic vines, which are on flat, frost-prone land making them even more susceptible to Psa this winter. “For some reason my fruit is smaller this season, but I did have a big crop of 17,000 trays a hectare last season, which could be a factor. “I think it will be down to 15,000 to 16,000 this year.” Barry normally harvests his fruit early but believes, because he continued to irrigate longer than normal to help vines recover from the storm, fruit will be slower to reach harvest required dry matter. The storm is yet another blow to the industry which is thousands of people short for the harvest and facing increasing costs all round. “Production and packaging costs have increased by around $1 a tray, and the industry moving to pack increasingly into bulk trays to reduce labour needs, means lower value and overall a lower return for growers. “This will be a year to pay the bills. It will not be a profitable outcome.” Barry acknowledges that Bay of Plenty avocado growers were overall harder hit, losing not only this season’s fruit, but that for the next harvest too, as well as experiencing significant damage and even loss of trees. And that’s on top of a difficult marketing season for avocados. “Growing is never straight forward and we often get these curve balls thrown at us, but we are also a very resilient industry and as such we can hopefully bounce back next season.”

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