FRUIT PROSPECTS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21852, 24 October 1945, Page 4

FRUIT PROSPECTS

EXCEPTIONALLY GOOD HEAVY YIELDS EXPECTED FEW CASES OF DISEASE An exceptionally good season for fruit growers with quality up to the usual high standard for the district is expected by Mr. J. D. Kennedy, orchard instructor to the Department of Agriculture, Gisborne. There is practically no disease in the orchards, which are in a clean state and growers are well up with their spraying so that if nothing out of the ordinary happens now growers can be assured of good quality and standard, he opines. Pip fruit is setting very .veil and there is every indication for a 1 eavy crop. Cases of disease in this type of fruit this year are negligible. Stone fruits are likewise setting well and until last week at any rate the weather was ideal for their growth. In most areas good crops are showing and the prospects for the season are very good. There is less brown rot and other infections of stone fruit this year than there has been for several seasons. Light Lemon Crop Last year, being exceptionally dry, was not inductive for good citrus growing and present indications are that crops of lemons this season will be fairly light, although oranges are showing good prospects for the coming season. Commenting on the recent frost, Mr. Kennedy said that some of the main grape crops were completely wiped out and the prospects for this branch of the industry this season were not so bright. This cold snap had a detrimental effect on early plantings of tomatoes, with the result that growth will be retarded for some time and the season will be somewhat later this year. Vegetables, such as marrows, grown for the Christmas market, were similarly affected, and the potato crops were also heavy sufferers in certain localities. Glass-house crops are showing every prospect of being successful.