Australian Stonefruit Grower Magazine Issue 2 August 2016 | Page 11
News
New wrist bands
to help at harvest
A simple, coloured, silicone wrist band has been developed by Summerfruit New Zealand
to help fruit pickers during the upcoming 2016–17 season.
NZ
market coordinator Trisha Aitken said the wrist
bands will help pickers decide which fruit to
pick and which fruit to leave on the tree to grow and ripen
further.
“The bands are great for new or inexperienced pickers as
The trials found that the wrist bands helped with training
new staff and also reduced the amount of time needed to
supervise pickers.
Ms Aitken said the hard-wearing bands are used by
advertisers, charities and event organisers as they are
they are a constant reminder of the colour fruit they should
comfortable to wear and won’t split, tear or fade. Available
be looking to pick,” Ms Aitken said.
in packs of 10, order forms can be downloaded from the
“Growers also found they are really helpful for first or
second picks, when there is still a lot of immature fruit on
the trees.”
The wrist bands are the result of a three-year
Summerfruit NZ website www.summerfruitnz.co.nz
Summerfruit NZ has also produced a set of 13 maturity
guides for selected apricot, nectarine, peach and plum
varieties. These are ready for trial with pickers and packers.
AGMARDT/Summerfruit NZ-funded project Harvest
Each guide features images of five maturity stages,
Assurance Tools and follow trialling the bands with apricot,
indicating colour changes from immature through ripe and
nectarine and peach growers in Hawkes Bay and Central
to overmature.
Otago.
“Fruit colour is a major trigger for deciding fruit maturity
“Both the wristbands and the guides focus on apricot,
nectarine and peach varieties, but cherry and plum colour
and therefore deciding when and what to pick,” Ms Aitken
wrist bands are being trialled for release this time next
said.
year,” Ms Aitken said.
“The colours for the wrist bands were chosen following
trials which closely matched colours with certain varieties.
For inquiries contact Trisha Aitken by email:
But that doesn’t mean they can’t be used for other varieties
[email protected]
too.”
summerfruit.com.au
august 2016 | Australian Stonefruit Grower
11