BIG CROP OF BOYSENBERRIES RIPENING FOR EXPORT

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31235, 6 December 1966, Page 8

BIG CROP OF BOYSENBERRIES RIPENING FOR EXPORT

“The Press” Special Service ROTORUA, Dec. 5. Boysenberries may soon be earning New Zealand substantial overseas funds. An export shipment, planned for about the end of December from the Bay of Plenty, will be the first New Zealand boysenberries to go abroad. It all started when Mr M. Crooks, previously of Kawerau, but now of Edgecumbe, read an article in a Department of Agriculture magazine. In 1962 he set out 50 boysenberry vines from Upper Moutere, near Nelson, as an experiment. With the help of Department of Agriculture officers he eliminated most cultivation and disease-control difficulties. Such success led Mr Crooks to believe that growing boysenberries could be a sound commercial proposition. There was plenty of local labour.

The chance to expand and consolidate came when he formed a partnership with Mr J. A. Sax, a farmer, of Otakiri, near Edgecumbe. A company, Bay Boysenberries, Ltd., was formed. Now 90 per cent of the vines on 7} acres of Mr Sax’s land are from the original Kawerau stock.

Five and a half miles of wire trellis about six feet high on rows of jarrah railway sleepers 10 feet apart were erected to hold the vines. Grass is mowed between the 30 rows but chemical weedkillers are applied to a strip of ground beneath the trellis. Although New Zealand is practically free of the diseases and pests that attack the boysenberry in other countries it could attract dry-berry

disease or the berry mite. As a preventive measure the plantation is being sprayed every 10 days, but the growers feel that such frequent sprayings may not be necessary in future. To ensure pollination nine beehives have been established on the property. Dry-berry disease, caused by a fungus, causes some fruit to shrivel instead of ripening. Berry mites suck the juice which makes the berry taste bitter on one side. Cultivation of boysenberries was attempted some years ago on the Rangitaiki Plains but abandoned because of dryberry disease and the berry mite.

Harvesting by the company is expected to start just before Christmas —about 18 months after planting—when about 30 people will be employed to pick about 10 to 12 miles of fruit from upward of 400 vines. The almost second-year crop in a first-year season is

attributed to the soil and climate which are described as “the finest in the country—could not be bettered.” Mr A. Coombes, of the Department of Agriculture at Tauranga, says it is the finest first-year fruiting he has seen in New Zealand. A chilling room has been built to keep the berries fresh if they have to be held for shipment. The berries could be on sale in the United States within 36 hours of picking. The fruit is well known there. Although virtually unknown in Australia it is expected to attract willing buyers there when on sale within 24 hours of being picked. The fruit will be sold in the usual chip containers and three-pound polythene packs ready for immediate use or deep-freeze storage. Processing and canning firms will take a considerable volume of the yield, but the emphasis will be on the overseas trade.