16-Jan-2021: 1.75kg/tree of CAN applied to all trees – 19 x 20kg bags in total
14-Jan-2021: Rang Logan about the Leafroller detected in yesterday’s monitor. Preference is to apply Prodigy (14 day stand down) over Proclaim. Will need to be applied in the next 2 days. As for copper, Kocide Opti at this time of the year
20-Dec-2020: 1.75kg/tree of CAN applied to all trees – 19 x 20kg bags in total. Fewer than before because of the new trees
07-Dec-2020: Avoco Grower Meeting held
– In market fruit quality reports have been good so far with the volume of fruit for repack significantly down on last season. Now seeing some discrete and fuzzy patches
– The volume of smaller fruit has provided a substantial challenge to marketers, but key customers have made adjustments to their programs to suit. Size 28 fruit has been sold in retail as loose fruit and prepack programs for smaller fruit have been going well.
– AVANZA markets will make up around 7-8% of volume share by the end of the season. Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong will be the biggest AVANZA markets.
– Chilean exports have ramped up with 96k trays exported in ISO week 47. This fruit will be sold on the central market (wholesale) so shouldn’t greatly the affect retail program. Chilean fruit has a much longer shipping life (50 days) because it is grown in a desert
– Alistair Young and John Carroll were brave enough to project end of season OGR values.
16-25 count: $28-$30+
28-32 count: $20-$22+
36 count: $18-$20+
42 count: 40
– Late harvest incentives now depend on size as well as date picked. The range will be $7-$14. It is based on FOB
05-Nov-2020: confirmation from Lynwood Nurseries that trees will be delivered on 12th November
01-Nov-2020: 0.5kg/tree of OrganiBor applied to all trees apart from the small trees in rows I/J (ran out) – 5 x 25kg bags in total
28-Oct-2020: attended Apata Growers’ Coffee Morning at Chrome Cafe. Some growers complained about slow picking, getting 3 bins per picker per day (compared to our 4.5). This year there is a big difference in the price received across the sizes with expected OGRs: 25 count = $30, 28-32 count = $24, 36 count = $18 & 42 count = $10
18-Oct-2020: 1.75kg/tree of Yara Mila Complex applied to all tress – 22 x 20kg bags in total
06-Oct-2020: Weed sprayed Block 1 (edge of rows) and shelter
05-Oct-2020: Irrigation repairs – buried the ends of the block 3 pipes where they met block 2 and where the trees have been removed
03-Oct-2020: Picked up 3/4 bin of windfall fruit from block 3 and the 4 rows in block 2 by Snodgrass Road. The rest will be mowed. Total windfall fruit estimate is 2 bins
30-Sep-2020: Field day held at John & Mary Bowen’s Orchard in Prestidge Road. Field day handout. Points to note:
– TenTek tensiometers, which are NZ made, are cheaper than Irrometer
– NZ Avocado are using Harvest for telemetry at their weather station on the Watchhorns property
– For digital monitoring, refer to info on the Irrigation NZ website. Phil suggested TDR or TDT sensors
– Claymark mill for mulch?
23-Sep-2020: Sent completed grower form to Pole to Pole with a view to sending fruit strip picked from the ~10 trees affected by six spotted mite. Pole to Pole didn’t want anything smaller than 180 grams/100 count so the decision was made not to pick
21-Sep-2020 > 23-Sep-2020: First pick. Block 1 = 22 bins, Block 2 = 35.5 bins, Block 3 = 4 bins, Oil = 0.5 bins. Packout Reports: 23rd September (for 21st/22nd) and 24th September (for 23rd). 3119 Export trays at 75% packout
21-Sep-2020: First day of pick. 25 bins, of which 22 were from Block A
14-Sep-2020: Testing results – Certificate of Analysis – Heavy Metal & Certificate of Analysis – Residue
11-Sep-2020: Met with Colin & Logan today to discuss the fertiliser plan. Colin will email an updated plan. Some points of discussion:
– it’s really dry at the moment so need to get tensiometers serviced and back in the ground. It can take 3 weeks to settle in
– to de-stress the trees that have been hit with six spotted mite we need to strip pick. Apata don’t want small fruit so we should consider Calvin, Pole to Pole or City Fruit??
– flowering is at different stages. We’ll spray Solubor next week with copper (Kocide Opti) and then another Solubor between picking and bees arriving
– you can’t have too much mulch!
07-Sep-2020: Logan visited to take samples for a residue test and while he was here he inspected the flowers. “I thought between 60-80% were at this stage or beyond (see pic below/attached). So probably too advanced to get two boron applications on, but certainly one is possible. If you’re talking to Colin on Friday, I would go with his advice.”
04-Sep-2020: 27-Aug-2020: 2020 Pollination Agreement
25-Aug-2020: maturity test done ahead of harvest: average dry matter = 23.7% vs threshold of 24%. At this time of year the rule of thumb is 1% increase every 3 weeks
24-Aug-2020: Logan visited to discuss the harvest. Indicative export pick date is scheduled for the week beginning Saturday 19th September. Apata provided a Working in The Orchard at Level 2 document.
02-Aug-2020: export registration completed: 6500 export and 2800 local trays
24-Jul-2020: maturity test result was average dry matter of 18.6%, which was lower than Logan was hoping for
21-Jul-2020: Logan visited to discuss the harvest and sign the harvest contract
16-Jul-2020: spoke to Niko about the harvest plan: 50 bins over 2 days in week 39, 50 bins over 2 days in week 40 & 60 bins in week 3. The volume rebate applies only to 2 consecutive days picking, so we’re aiming for 2 sets of 2 days. Our new grower rep will be Logan Whenaroa. Logan will organise maturity testing in week 37/38 with Eurofins. Niko had no problem with us using Calvin to pick. Emailed Calvin with the dates and asked that he confirm price per hour per lada. Expecting 4/5 ladas on site to pick with 1 following to do pruning.
22-Jun-2020: tractor serviced by Pete at 611 hours
04-Jun-2020: crop estimate = 186 bins x 50 trays/bin = 9300 trays. 70% export = 6500, 30% local = 2800
23-Apr-2020: participated in a sustainability workshop
21-Apr-2020: rows A and H in block 1 were weed sprayed
15-Apr-2020: shelter was trimmed. See here for more info on the trimming and the clean up
29-Mar-2020: trees growing out of the pond and getting in the way of mowing were dealt to. Also the 6 adjacent trees in block 3 and row T (?, the one beside the road) were weed sprayed
22-Mar-2020: rows I & J in block 1 were weed sprayed
14-Mar-2020: 1.75kg/tree of YaraBela CAN applied to all tress – 21? x 20kg bags in total + 0.75kg/tree of YaraMila Complex applied to all trees – 8.5 x 20kg bags in total
05-Mar-2020: Bear Cat Chipper sold on Trade Me for $2100 less $166.15 in fees. Picked up today by John
27-Jan-2020: 2.2kg/tree of YaraBela CAN applied to all trees – 25.5 x 20kg bags in total
16-Jan-2020: second pick yielded only 6 bins. Advice 57298 & Job Sheet 8965. Niko to get Finance to adjust the job sheet because James was away for 30/45 mins to get inhalers
16-Jan-2020: Niko visited to organise the pickers for the second pick. He made some comments about irrigation: apply 600 litres per tree per week in 2 sessions. It will help the exposed fruit that may not be covered by autumn growth. The trees will drop excess fruit. We don’t need to prune.
06-Jan-2020: Colin Partridge visited again to check the fruit set and adjust the fertiliser recommendation
15-Dec-2019: 1.75kg/tree of YaraBela CAN applied to all trees – 21 x 20kg bags in total
15-Nov-2019: In Market Fruit Report. Assessments are based on the New Zealand Avocado Fruit Assessment Manual and are completed at Murray Brothers in Brisbane by an AVOCO representative from one of our packhouse partners. Ideally, we aim to achieve the following:
12-Nov-2019: Dorrie came to discuss the accounts. Depreciation schedules were set up with reference to IRD rates. Salaries: don’t take unless the company is profitable in that year, instead take drawings and a year end salary. KiwiSaver: pay direct from one of the Trusts. Up to $1000 it is taxed at 10.5%, >$1000 @ 33%
12-Nov-2019: 1.75kg/tree of YaraBela CAN applied to all trees – 21 x 20kg bags in total
06-Nov-2019: Spoke to Therese. Apata has an export packout rate of 77% YTD, with last week being 71%. Most of what has been picked was before the winds. Class 2 is local market and Class 3 goes to a retailer in Australia. Last year oil got $3/tray and Class 3 got $8-$10/tray
03-Nov-2019: last (half) day of picking. Block 2 yielded another 2.5 bins and Block 3 yielded 6.75. The quarter bins was 2 yellows (from the hydralada) and had to be taken up to Apata because we ran out of bins/bin cards. Advice 55610 & Job Sheet 9475
Block 1: 13.5 bins (est. 26 bins > 51.9%)
Block 2: 22 bins (est. 36.25 bins > 60.7%)
Block 3: 6.75 bins (est. 6.25 bins > 108%)
Total: 42.25
02-Nov-2019: second day of picking. Block 2 yielded a further 16 bins and is not complete. Advice 55499, Advice 55608 & Job Sheet 9474
31-Oct-2019: first day of picking. Block 1 (rows A:J) yielded 13.5 bins, rows K:M in block 2 yielded 3.5 bins. 4 bins of windfall fruit also sent for oil. Advice 55494, Advice 55497 & Job Sheet 9473
30-Oct-2019: chipped 5 trees that lost limbs in the winds last Thursday: O16, R19, R13, R10 & Q12 (3 boughs lost)
30-Oct-2019: 0.5kg/tree of OrganiBor applied to all trees apart from the small trees in rows I/J (ran out) – 5 x 25kg bags in total
29-Oct-2019: Therese stopped in to discuss windfall fruit. The Grove should take the fruit and we can collect bins from their depot in Te Puna. Oil typically pays $3/tray – based on 4 bins (est.) and approx. 63 trays/bin, that equates to $750. Awaiting a call back from James today as to whether they’ll take it. The alternative is to collect a bin from Apata and deliver to them
26/27-Oct-2019: collected fallen fruit with the help of Marty, Carmen, Erica & Murray
25-Oct-2019: unusually heavy winds resulted in approx. 4 bins of windfall fruit
23-Oct-2019: Niko (Apata) confirmed the dry matter test passed and that picking will be delayed until the first week of November because of the weather
22-Oct-2019: EuroFins sampled avocados for maturity testing
11-Oct-2019: McQuillin Apiaries delivered 16 hives for pollination
10-Oct-2019: Wealleans spread lime: 1500kg per Ha, total 3.9t
07-Oct-2019: Cancelled lime order at Ballance because of the $25 charge per bag, which is not refundable. Sent application form to Wealleans, who should be back later this week
06-Oct-2019: Met with Shaun McQuillin about bees. He’ll place hives in Block 1 and Block near to trees that won’t be picked
05-Oct-2019: Spoke to Bryce Carlyle about spreading lime. He suggested getting it delivered in 500kg bags to Farmlands Te Puna. Order placed with Ballance
Moved tree blocking the double gates (taken down by PowerCo) to the fire pit, and cut up the tree that fell in the wind
01-Oct-2019: Weedspraying in Block 2 and under shelter. Approx. 1L of Weedmaster G360 diluted in 100L of water
xx-Sep-2019: Picked up a black trailer full of windfall fruit from the remainder of block 2 and 80% of a trailer from block 1
26-Sep-2019: Picked up a black trailer full of windfall fruit from block 3 and the 3 rows next to Snodgrass Road in block 2
08-Sep-2019: Tree down – I6
02-Sep-2019: 0.5kg/tree of Yara Mile Complex applied to all trees – 6 x 20kg bags in total
31-Aug-2019: 1kg/tree of CAN applied to all trees – 12 x 20kg bags in total
22-Sep-2019: Weedspraying in Block 1 and under shelters. Approx. 2.5L of Weedmaster G360 diluted in 250L of water
21-Aug-2019: Meeting with Colin partridge
15-Aug-2019: Apata field day
06-Aug-2019: NZ Avocado field day at Prole Road
09-May-2019: Crop estimate with Niko and Therese
26-Mar-2019: NZ Avocado field day at 21b Hayward Road (Frank Baggenstos)
07-Mar-2019: NZ Avocado new grower event
28-Feb-2019: Meeting with Therese