16 Dec 2016

Warm winters delay cherry season

From Country Life, 9:25 pm on 16 December 2016
Peter Sargeant

Peter Sargeant Photo: RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes

West Melton fruit grower Peter Sargeant had to cancel all his Christmas cherry orders because the season is running so late. The orchard's pick-your-own option has also been put on hold until the New Year.

When Peter took over the orchard seven years ago the cherry picking season began in November but now it's taking longer and longer for the fruit to mature. He puts it down to global warming.

"The biggest thing for all stone fruit, especially cherries, is you need at least 500 hours of between 0 and 5 degrees. We've just had three very mild winters so our fruit set hasn't been that good because it's just been too warm" he says.

He says there are not many cherry growers in Canterbury now.

"It's very labour intensive and there's no pack houses to grade it here. If we want to go export we'd have to grade it and grading machines are very expensive and to do it manually is very labour intensive."

This year his crop is two thirds down, he says. 

Luckily Peter's strawberry crop is ripe for picking and the punnets are flying out of his tunnel house, most of them to local farmers markets. The large, juicy strawberries are grown in coco husk peat bags and are picked every day.

The coconut husks provide an ideal growing medium for strawberries he says.

"Coconut husks hold moisture nicely, while soil goes cloggy, and coconut husks are very free draining.

"One of the advantages of being small is we tend to pick them when they are ripe. If you picked a strawberry here it wouldn't be any good in three days' time. You are picking it at its best and people eat them straight away."

Best market for his produce is Lyttleton farmers market which he's been supporting for seven years and is going from strength to strength, he says.

Peter Sargeant

Peter Sargeant Photo: RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes

The business also allows customers to pick their own cherries, but he says it's not without its perils.

"We've actually policed heavier and heavier lately. We had to stop prams coming in because fruit was being stolen, buckets being put under the hedge. It's our livelihood, you wouldn't do it if you went into a super market."