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