BLOW TO ORCHARDISTS.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 120, 11 February 1926, Page 8

BLOW TO ORCHARDISTS.

BITTER PIT IN APPLES.. Outbreak At Nelson. j The appearance of bitter pit in many ! orchards is reported. It was first observed in Sturmers, large blocks being affected in some orchards. Later it was observed in other varieties such as Dunns, Jonathans, Statesman and Premier. The opinion of Mr Thorpe, orchard instructor at Nelson, is £that the trouble is due to the abnormal weather this season. The disease is being found over a wide area and on the flats as well as the hills, in rich land and in poor. All orchards are not affected nor are all the trees of a variety in the same orchard. For those orchardists who had a bad outbreak the consequences will be very serious. One estimates he will lose between two and three thousand cases and others will also be heavy losers. It is hoped that with the breaking up of the dry spell the extension of the disease will stop, but should it continue to spread to all orchards the results may be disastrous. Speaking at a meeting of the Harbour Board regarding the export of apples, the chairman, Mr Duncan, said the people hardly realised what it meant to the district. Provided everything went all right some 300,000 cases would be sent away during the forthcoming season. Other districts had wool and butter exports in larger quantities than Nelson, but if these went down in price and fruit prices were maintained the general effect would be much less unfavourable in Nelson. Unfortunately at the present time, said Mr Duncan, a proportion of the fruit was being affected by bitter pit. No doubt this would militate against export this year. He had taken samples of the affected fruit to Mr Rigg, of the Cawthron Institute. Mr Rigg, however, was not prepared to express a defiinite opinion although he felt that with the long spell of w r et weather early in the season the trees might have become waterlogged and that this, combined with the spell of dry weather following, might have had something to do with it. Others thought it -was due to too much manure. Against this trouble they had a heavy crop and the quantity of fruit available for export might be equal to last year in spite of the bitter pit trouble. Export meant that a considerable amount of money was circulated. It was the board’s duty to keep an eye on the industry and its expenditure on increased shed accommodation was fully justified.