Helicopters and picnics lead Tauranga avocado orchardist to go coastal

Bryce Matuschka

Bryce Matuschka owns three avocado orchards.

By Claire Ashton

The first is a fully established 22-hectare orchard in Pyes Pa, Tauranga, and the other two are in different stages of maturity in Hot Water Beach, Hahei.

Across his orchards, he has three to four fulltime staff with around ten hydraulic ladder pickers and eight ground pickers come harvest time. Picking is staggered, with the Orua Lane beach orchard picked in September, Purangi Road orchard in October, and Pyes Pa in November. It is the Purangi Road orchard I visit first, which Bryce bought around three years ago, consisting of 48 hectares in total, with 15 hectares in avocados and the rest being milled pine and grazing.

Bryce spotted it when he was recruited by a friend to scout for an orchard to purchase. When they went up in his friend's helicopter he spotted two with potential – one in Flaxmill Bay and the other in Purangi Road. His friend opted for the Flaxmill Bay property, and Bryce bought Purangi Road. He loves the privacy and position of the house up a long winding driveway – and the pool was a definite bonus too. The property has a two-hectare irrigation lake and good shelterbelts of both pine and cryptomerias to protect against the sou'wester, with a double layer of both species on the boundary as this helps to create warmer temperatures in the orchard. The Hass tree stock is from Lynwood and Riversun in Gisborne and around the orchard are piles of mulch and chicken manure at strategically placed locations, ready to be used when needed.The previous owner had created a system of colour-coded zones for the overhead irrigation

system which runs off the top of the poles, by nailing painted animal ear tags as markers on the posts. Bryce took this system one step further, as you couldn't always see the tags from vehicles, and ring-painted the poles higher up. Bryce has a background in dairying, and skills learned in that industry have helped him along the way when he got into the avocado orchard business, especially at his youngest orchard in Orua Lane where he designed and dug a 15ft drain and put in a comprehensive piping system. He discovered the 16-hectare Orua Lane property four years ago whilst out on a picnic and obtained it for a good price, perhaps as most of it was lying under water due to poor drainage.

Rainfall storage is future-proofing, especially during last season with the near drought conditions

As we know, avocados hate wet feet, and in planting he creates a base mound of soil and manure to raise the young trees up, then supports them with gates. He has four large rainfall storage tanks on the property, which hold 120,000 litres. Rainfall storage is future-proofing, especially during last season with the near drought conditions. Bryce believes that between the two Hahei orchards they are capable of producing 800 bins, with current production sitting around 430 to 450 bins, but the younger trees need time to grow and mature before they come into full production.

The Orua Lane orchard is the first orchard he has started from scratch, and he relished the opportunity to get everything exactly how he wanted it from the get-go. The orchard is just 500m above sea level and 200m from the beach, but despite that it can still frost. To counteract frost he has a hot water bore and water comes out of the ground at 27 degrees Celsius, so when the temperature drops below 3 degrees, the water is irrigated under the trees from storage tanks at 16 degrees to help protect the young trees. Despite being near the ocean there is minimal salt or sea burn, though some of the leaves can sunburn. The only pest is the occasional bronze beetle. Bryce has planted the orchard in a 10 x 10 spacing which he reckons is ideal and makes for easier mowing. He mows every 21 days. The new shelterbelts have Reed pollinator trees planted intermittently along the rows. Many orchards plant 3 x 6 or 6 x 6, but that can lead to more work and a lot of pruning, so the early gain doesn't always pay off in the longer term. Bryce believes the necessary ingredients for successful growing are fertiliser, injecting, pruning, rootstock, water, pollination, harvest date, a bit of luck, the lay of the land, and ideal weather. When he took over the Purangi Road orchard, the previous owner hadn't been injecting, so once he started doing that, it greatly improved tree health. Bryce likes the land and being part of something that benefits us all – two avocado trees provide enough oxygen for one person for a lifetime. This attitude carries through into local community work. Bryce is part of a group who do volunteer work, primarily cutting and mowing tall grass on roadside verges, notably those corners with low visibility or on one of the many one-lane bridges in the area. Down at the local café, he has a chat with one of the cafe workers and the conversation is about activity on orchard properties – a local grower is extending their orchard. Bryce certainly has his ear to the ground, and his eyes on the orchards. He says "I find the trees easy to read, and usually know what they need just by looking at them." Bryce is interested in holding on orchard discussion groups in the future and likes to share his knowledge by advising and helping people starting out in the business.

On his Purangi Road property he has milled the mature pines on the block and runs over a dozen beefies. From the goingson in Purangi Road it seems Bryce runs a bit of unwanted stock too. Wild pigs are something of a pest and native 'predator' of the avocados. A bit like truffle pigs they sniff out the ripe avocados – and leave the green ones. Another thing they leave behind is a mess of uprooted earth, which makes it harder to mow. Bryce has pig traps placed between the rows and uses kibbled maize as bait. Once caught he butchers them and gives out packs of the wild pork mince to friends and family, and apparently it tastes pretty good seeing as avocado is part of their staple diet.

www.precisede.co.nz Angus Clarke 027 498 3146 Allan Crouch 021 909 463