Australian Stonefruit Grower Magazine Issue 2 August 2016 | Page 27

Feature

The Good Rich Fruit Co orchard - the fine detail
• Located between Inglewood and
Stanthorpe in SE Qld
• First substantial Queen Garnet
planting in Australia
• 75,000 trees planted 2010/2011
• Queen Garnet bred at Stanthorpe by
Qld DPI
• Grown in Traprock country as
diversification from fine wool
• The trees were originally planted with
the processed nutraceutical market
in mind
• The trees are grown on a trellised
cordon system
• The consumer response to the QG
as a fresh product has been so great
that the fresh market will remain the
dominant outlet for time being
• Queen Garnet grown under a
biological regime: feeding the soil
biology which in turn feeds the tree.
This in turn produces a healthier tree
and fruit
• There are no artificial fertilisers used,
and no insecticide cover sprays; the
only fungicide is copper at budswell
• The soil is balanced, and bulk nutrient
added using compost made on farm;
soil testing is used to determine the
inputs required in the compost; extra
nutritional requirement is gained
through adding products such as
gypsum, lime, soft rock phosphate,
palagonite to the manure/carbon base
• The soil is then boosted with trace
elements through fertigation, plus
fish, kelp, humates, fulvic, compost
extract and nitrogen fixing biology
• Currently the orchard’s own
biological/nutrient brews used for
both foliar and fertigation
• Spray program revolves around
calcium, kelp, sea minerals

• This nutrition program delivers a
nutrient dense tree/product with
inbuilt resistance to fungal, bacterial
and insect attack
• Using tree health as the first defence
against these pests
• Huge number and variation of insect
predators as a result of no insecticide
cover sprays; there’s a population of
mites and thrip but yet to see damage
• Had some damage from San Jose
scale, but predators seem to have
that under control
• Queensland Fruit Fly: about to start
fifth season of sterile fruit fly release;
last three years of this will have been
as part of an HIA research project run
by Dr Olivia Reynolds – NSW DPI
• The sterile flies have been run in
conjunction with MATs, baiting, and
trap monitoring of both orchard and
surrounding bush/gardens; this has
been an ongoing learning process
with continual alterations being
made to the program as they learn;
it has been the only on-ground work
happening in Australia
• Other orchards in the region have
been brought into the program in the
last two years; the aim is to obtain an
area wide freedom from Qfly
• The results have been promising
with the localised population of Qfly
reducing each year The last two years
probably only had 2–4 wild flies in the
orchard giving trouble; the trapping
has let the orchard know where the
wild flies are breeding, so they know
where they need to be wiping them
out
• The aim of the project has been to
work out models that the rest of
eastern Australia can use to control
Qfly without having to resort to harsh
cover sprays; the orchard has made
great gains, but unfortunately there is
only one season left with the project;

as it is the only on-ground SIT Area
Wide Freedom work happening,
Rowan Berecry is sure it would have
beneficial for the industry as a whole
to have been able to continue with
the research
• Weed Control: The orchard was
using a restricted herbicide program
up until 12 months ago; they were
seeing too many nutrient tie-ups
with the herbicide, so have gone to
a permanent sward under the trees;
the nutrient lock-outs were starting to
affect tree health
• Mulch was also being used for weed
control / moisture retention; the
orchard managers have backed off on
this for the time being as legumes are
starting to dominate along the tree
rows; they do not want to restrict its
ability to spread and survive
• Water is a major issue: Main
water source reliant on run-off,
supplemented with bores; however,
salt content in bores is starting to
cause a few problems; installed
a magnet to supplement biology/
nutrition as a control for the salt
• Harvest: The fruit matures midJanuary; the managers have two
weeks in which to get the crop off;
almost totally reliant on backpacker /
uni student labour. This year aiming to
harvest 100 tonnes/day
• The fruit is currently hand-picked; it
is hoped to mechanise this in future
years
• Postharvest: The fruit is fast cooled
then packed or stored; the fruit stores
well for at least 6–8 weeks; cooling
will be done on-farm for the first time
this year; local coolrooms are used
for the long-term storage, and local
packing sheds used for packing
• Daily packing requirement is
controlled by Harrowsmiths
International in Brisbane

Factbox supplied by Rowan Berecry, Good Rich Fruit Company

summerfruit.com.au

august 2016 | Australian Stonefruit Grower

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