Valley Orchardists Face Heavy Losses

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30636, 30 December 1964, Page 1

Valley Orchardists Face Heavy Losses

Hillside orchardists in Heathcote and Horotane Valleys are faced with serious crop losses as apricots and plums shrivel on their trees through lack of rain.

One Heathcote orchardist said yesterday that he had already lost 75 per cent of his crop, while another, in Horotane Valley, has cancelled an order for 3000 cases.

“I just won’t be needing them now,” he said as he showed a reporter rows and rows of apricot trees laden with shrivelled fruit generally no bigger than walnuts. The leaves were so dry that they rustled, autumn-like, in the breeze.

In his battle against the drought, this orchardist, Mr N. M. Stow, has pumped nearly one million gallons of water on to his property during the last few months. "But even with this quantity of water, the fruit has failed to come up to size,” he said. *'We needed rain; and plenty of it.” Mr Stow is probably one of the most seriously affected fruitgrowers in Horotane as his orchard is situated well up ort the valley’s eastern slope. His problem is twofold for not only does he require booster pumps to get

the water up to his trees, but once there, it quickly drains away down the hillside. Many millions of gallons of water have eased the situation for orchardists further down the valley where the soil is capable of holding moisture a little longer. One of these men is the chairman of the stone fruit section of the Canterbury Growers’ Society, Mr A. W. Shields, whose property is virtually on the flat in the valley. “The situation for some hillside growers is a very serious one and as a result, the fruit season is going to be a particularly short one,” he said.

There was a strong possibility that all varieties of apricots would clash on the markets early in the New Year. Although a shortage of fruit was unlikely, anyone planning to bottle fruit should not leave it later than the middle of January, said Mr Shields. Plums too, have been seriously affected by the dry

weather. Characteristically large and fleshy plums, specimens of the Sharp and Billington varieties shown the reporter yesterday, were barely the size of cherries. Mr N. Chambers, of Heathcote Valley, has a number of Billington plum trees on which the fruit is changing colour while only one-quarter of the size that it should be. “It’s a shame that this should happen after the most promising start to the season,” he said. After last year’s light crops, orchardists were optimistic this season when a particularly good spring pollination brought forth excellent setting. Had they not been let down by the lack of rain, there is no doubt that the hillside orchardists would be reaping a record crop.

The orchardists are also concerned that the drought will have a serious effect on bud formation next year. Although watering has enabled some fruit to mature, there has been insufficient moisture to foster tree growth. “It looks as if our worries won’t be over at the end of this season either,” one orchardist said grimly