New Afourer variety allows local mandarins to be sold most of the year

Joe Lenaghan of T&G Fresh, Kerikeri, shows a new Afourer mandarin tree already growing vigorously. Photo / Donna Russell

The only commercial crop in Northland of a new mandarin variety is starting to bear fruit.

T&G Fresh has added the Afourer variety to its citrus range, with 20ha of Afourer mandarins grafted on top of Satsuma mandarins trees in late 2018.

The Australian-bred variety has been available to New Zealand supermarkets as it has been grown in small volumes in Gisborne and largely imported from Australia.

Now there will be a lot more of the rich, orange-skinned sweet snacks around, with 150 tonnes forecast for next season from the Northland region.

Once the trees reach full maturity, T&G Fresh expects to produce more than 500 tonnes by 2025, with almost all to be sold on the local market.

Rob Fisher, general manager of Diversified Crops, said it was exciting to introduce a new mandarin variety to supplement the Satsuma season.

"With this new variety, we can offer mandarins to our customers for most of the year.''

Varieties of Satsuma mandarins are available from April to August, while Afourer mandarins cover September to November and even later in some instances.

T&G Fresh Kerikeri citrus manager Joe Lenaghan said the company produces a variety of citrus including Satsuma and Afourer mandarins, Yenben lemons and Navel oranges across six orchard locations based in Kerikeri and Taipa.

Yenben lemons keep T&G busy most of the year, with the winter crop being primarily exported to Japan and the lighter summer crop supplied domestically.

Early Navel oranges produced from their Taipa orchard are some of the earliest-maturing in the country and are available from June to July.

The new Afourer mandarins have been top grafted onto mature Satsuma trees. Two grafts were added to each stump, with about 85 per cent success.

"They have a vibrant orange skin, are easy to peel, with few seeds and a juicy sweet taste. They are also less of a biannual crop than other varieties, so we can expect consistent fruiting every year,'' he said.

Lenaghan said as they mature the more vigorous Afourer trees would require more space than the original Satsuma tree spacing, at which point every second tree would need to be removed.

"They are a little more challenging to grow. Due to their vigorous nature, they tend to be more susceptible to disease, which can affect fruit quality,'' he said.

Lenaghan urged growers to check citrus orchards regularly for new diseases or unusual symptoms, especially a bacterial disease called citrus greening or Huanglongbing (HLB).

"Citrus greening is one disease we definitely want to avoid entering New Zealand. It is not in New Zealand or Australia yet but has devastated the citrus industry in Florida with positive cases found in Southern California in more recent years."

Citrus greening is transmitted by psyllids, which are present in New Zealand but do not carry the disease. It can also be spread by the movement of infected citrus plant material.

Symptoms vary, but common signs include yellowing of leaves, blotchy mottled leaves, small lopsided fruit and asymmetric leaf development.

The disease shortens the lifespan of the tree and reduces fruit quality and yield. The fruit is unsaleable. The disease affects all parts of the plant and eventually the trees decline and die. There are no protection measures available for citrus greening.

The company has laboratory testing for fruit maturity as well as monitoring crews for pests and diseases.

Lenaghan said the biggest challenge, besides the wet weather, has been with the export lemon programme.

"With fewer ships making the journey to New Zealand and consistent scheduling delays, supplying quality fruit to our customers in Japan has been challenging," he said.

T&G Fresh's Northland operation employs 29 permanent staff, and 20 to 150 seasonal workers annually, depending on the time of the year.