Darryl & Tranja FRY
Darryl & Tranja FRY
Richmond, Nelson
This small macadamia block was established primarily as an experiment to assess viability in a marginal climatic situation and gain some appreciation of varietal performance. This objective is reflected in the density and mixture of trees.
The site represents a relatively warm mesoclimate for the area - at the outset practically frost free although there has been significant adjustment over the nine year period of establishment as surrounding shelter has built up. The temperature differential with height is well represented by the growth rate of the avocados on the property accepting that these trees are also influenced by drainage factors and phytophthora.
The soil structure is variable, for the most part tight clay with little top soil particularly the south western corner where the trees were individually drained at planting. No pesticides or fungicides have been used to date and apart from minor leaf roller damage there have been no problems in this regard. Although available, very little water has been applied; a few trees in the lower aspect succumbed to frost damage early on but this appears not now to present a significant problem.
The trees were purchased from South Hokianga; there are seven varietals represented all on Renown root stock; examples are labelled for your identification. There are two separate plantings, 1989 on the higher south western side of the property and 1993 on the lower north eastern side with a few more recent replacements lower down. Although Own Choice appeared a "good choice" early on and has some advantage in its hardiness it has not fruited well with poor flowering, albeit with excellent nut quality. Beaumont and Renown have been the best performers in terms of vigour, flowering and nut set although Beaumont is rather frost sensitive when young. Unfortunately for reasons that are not clear the current spring has seen the worst flowering to date hence cropping is low - some Beaumont have produced 20kg of nuts in shell for the past two seasons. The nut quality has not been formally assessed but appears to be reasonable.
1. Beaumont as elsewhere the most consistent performer.
2. Own Choice hardy, vigorous integrifolia - poor flower cover although high percentage of nut set.
3. Renown large nuts, reasonable hardy - a good compromise for this area.
4. Gordon Titirangi untidy and prone to fracture otherwise a good performer. (GTl)
5. Elimbah poor flowering to date.
6. Cate very prickly tetrafolia - low nut set with a high percentage of "double" nuts difficult to process.
7. Nelmac 2 good flowering, low nut set.
Some of the trees show leaf yellowing probably reflecting trace element deficiency currently being addressed. Overall there is evidence for potential for macadamia growing in warmer parts of this region with the possibility of reduced natural pest and disease problems.
Avocados on the other hand struggle with the drainage characteristics of this soil and have been particularly prone to phytophthora especially with additional frost stress. There has been some improvement with phosphoric acid (foli-r-fos) since it was introduced last year.
http://www.nzero.co.nz/treecrop/conf98/frys.htm