CHERRY ORCHARD LOSSES

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24624, 21 July 1945, Page 5

CHERRY ORCHARD LOSSES

ESTIMATE OF £15,000 SURVEY OF SNOW DAMAGE NEAR CITY Damage and losses equivalent to about £15,000 have been suffered by cherry orchards near Christchurch in the snow storm last week-end, according to an estimate Ijy the horticulture division of the Department of Agriculture yesterday. This estimate was made after a survey of the Rangiora, Loburn, and Papanui districts and the Cashmere Hills valleys. Damage and estimated losses to general fruit crops and orchard properties are relatively small, and it is believed that damage to market gardens will amount to only a few hundreds of pounds. Material damage to cherry orchards (netting and supports) is put at about £6000; the loss of crop for the coming season at 5000 to 6000 101b boxes (or £SOOO to £6000); and loss of productivity in the next two years at about £3OOO. Mr A. R. Grainger, orchard instructor of the department in Christchurch, said that it had not been possible to make contact with the majority of orchardists by telephone, but with the reopening of roads a general survey haa been carried out by officers of the division in the last few days. It was at first feared, he said, that orchard trees would have suffered considerable damage in Friday's gale, mostly through trees from shelter bells being blown on to them, but investigations showed that damage from this cause was light. Snojv damage, however, had been serious, particularly for cherry growers. Cherry trees were protected against birds by expensive wire-netting enclosures. thi pre-war cost of which was about £SOO an acre, he said. The growers were mostly caught unawares by the snowfall, and the weight of snow accumulating on top of many of the enclosures caused a, complete breakdown of the supporting timber, and in turn the wire-netting was badly torn and the trees were severely damaged. The losses by growers varied considerably from light to almost a total wreck.” The clearing of debris in the latter cases would call for a considerable amount of labour as the netting was tangled with splinters of wood from posts and trees. Most damage, Mr Grainger said, was caused in the, Horotane-Heathcote aitea, but the largest individual cherry orchard. at Rangiora, also suffered severely, though here the growers practice of removing, the supporting timber in the autumn saved him some expense. One orchardist had averted serious damage by displacing the snow with a high pressure hose. Mr Grainger said that some growers met during the survey had appeared to regard their cherry trees as a total loss, and had expressed their intention of. clearing the land and growing other crops. Some growers, however, believed that in spite of the apparently hopeless mass of twisted wire, splintered posts and broken trees they could get into production again in two or three years by appropriate pruning and treatment. • The snow had caused little damage to deciduous orchard trees apart from cherries, he said. In the Rangiora-Lo-burn district some apple trees of a weak type had limbs well bent with the weight of snow, but breakages were few. , , Glasshouses had been little damaged. Damage, to market garden crops could not be fully ascertained while large areas remained under snow, but it was feared that there would be considerable losses among broccoli crops where hearts had already formed. Celery, spring cabbage, and lettuce crops in the early valley areas had suffered either set-backs or damage; Ornamental trees in nurseries had also suffered some damage. A serious aspect of the snow and its slow rate of melting wa§ the delay caused to orchard operations, principally pruning, which in many instances was already several weeks behind.