Apatu Farms pipfruit division manager Jimmie Egan inspects the new trees which are expected to fruit within two years. Photo / Warren Buckland
Apatu Farms pipfruit division manager Jimmie Egan inspects the new trees which are expected to fruit within two years. Photo / Warren Buckland
A lush green field turned pop-up orchard in a matter of days is something of a fascination for those passing by.
Nestled between St Georges Rd and Waipatu Settlement Rd, the new development is nearing completion. It has been in the pipeline for about two years.
Apatu Farms started thespeedy project in mid-June, using its own workers and contractors to create the orchard, including installing the wooden posts, wire and planting the fruit trees.
Spread across the 12ha orchard, that is powered by modern technology, the baby apple trees are barely a metre high. Their scrawny bare branches are looped on the lengths of wire by bright red tape.
More than 400km of wire has been used on the 12ha orchard. Photo / Warren Buckland
Small buds dot their spindly arms, but in two years' time those arms will be bursting fruit ready for harvest.
Although the laneways of the new orchard are bare, apart from the 6665 towering wooden posts lined with wire, they will soon turn into lush green alleyways as the trees grow.
Apples will be picked by fruit pickers and, in the future, robots.
Soft grass is attempting to re-carpet the ground of the orchard which has more than 28,000 Rockit variety apple trees, planted in an extremely short time frame of just two and a half days.
Pipfruit division manager Jimmie Egan said it would have been faster, were it not for a slight interruption because of the weather.
The total amount of wire used is 472km, equivalent to the distance between Hastings and Auckland.
Egan said the quick embedding of the plants was down to planting machines, but they also used man power to complete the planting.
The installation of the main irrigation line took a mere four days to install and Egan expects the first fruit harvest to take place in a couple of years.
"Everything is on a dripper system which is the most efficient way to water, and it waters the roots. That will go with a fertigation system which puts fertiliser through the water system and that's all controlled off an iPad/iPhone system.
"It's just the most efficient way to fertilise. Instead of a big dumping we put it in little and often and the trees take in the total amount within 72 hours."
Jake Atkins, of Hastings, attaches wire to the wooden posts. Photo / Warren Buckland
"The good thing about this system is it brings on your yield early so this is going to come on with a substantial tonnage per hectare in year two, so we're talking the 2021 season.
Egan said the cost of the project was in the millions.
He said once the fruit was harvested, it would be exported worldwide as well as locally.
The orchard is one of five owned by Apatu across Hawke's Bay. Apatu has plans to develop more next year.
"I just think projects like these are new and exciting for Hawke's Bay. When it comes to harvesting, robotics are quite while away yet and a system like this is designed for it, but in the near future people are what we're going to be using for harvest."
