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| Trade News |
| australia: warm days oh so sweet for lovers of stone fruit |
| 2009-01-16 14:19:28 |
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| Fruit growers are rejoicing in the long-awaited warm weather which is set to deliver sweeter peaches, plums, nectarines and apricots.
Cold weather and November rain hurt the quality of fruit picked before Christmas but growers now halfway through the season say they are on track to fulfil predictions of a bumper summer stone fruit harvest.
WA Fruitgrowers Association summer stone fruit chairman Mark Wilkinson said warmer weather let sugars in the fruit develop and bring out sweet flavours.
Apricots were especially bountiful this year. ¡°Apricots have been prolific,¡± he said. ¡°They¡¯re a bit temperamental and this year they¡¯ve decided to be happy.¡±
Plums and nectarines also were top quality.
¡°There¡¯s plenty of nectarines around, both with white flesh and yellow flesh and you should smell the aroma ¡ª it¡¯s amazing,¡± he said.
Roleystone grower Jono Byl said the season was looking up after his early apricots took a hit from bad weather late last year. ¡°It¡¯s going a lot better than early December, because of the weather we had rain marking and only 40 per cent made first grade,¡± he said. ¡°Unfortunately, December was shocking.¡±
Mr Byl said he was cropping top-quality peaches and nectarines which had ripened beautifully in the warm weather.
The summer stone fruit season began with a trickle from Carnarvon last October and moved south to Gingin and the Perth Hills in the lead-up to Christmas. Fruit growers in the South-West now are set to start picking in earnest after cold weather delayed the season.
Manjimup orchardist Harvey Giblett was picking an excellent apricot crop this week as well as late season cherries. ¡°It¡¯s been the biggest crop of apricots for four or five years,¡± he said, noting that a fine warm spring last year had ensured a good fruit set. |
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