Friday, December 05, 2008

Kiwifruit Work.













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This week we have been working hard at thinning the newly formed Kiwifruit. Pollination is over and the bees go home tonight. This work will go on for several weeks( in fact right up till harvest next May ). It is very, very warm sweaty and itchy work cause the dropping petals and stamens go down my neck. We are trying to remove any mis - shapen fruit; which is difficult when they are so small - but we don't want the vines putting nutrients into fruit that will later be rejected, so we start straight in. Here are some photo of what the fruit look like just formed.
In the 2nd photo you can see one fruit which is too wide and needs to be pulled off - only round normal kiwifruit shaped fruit are allowed. NO hearts, fans or hairy.......... I won't say what.
The 2 last photos are of fruit I carried home and put on the bench to photograph so you could better see the silly shapes.
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Gudrun, a Feijoa is a fruit we have in NZ - it has smooth green skin and is a long oval shape with white juicy flesh. I will try and remember to show you one when they are ripe next year.
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Hi Georganna and Tom, How nice to hear from you. Thanks for that info in the comments section - I will do more research.
Have a happy weekend everyone!

7 comments:

Leanne said...

I hadn't thought that growers would remove funny shaped fruit, makes sense tho.

I'm really enjoying reading how you grow your fruit. Does sound hard work.

Love Leanne

Joyce said...

Isn't it odd that people won't buy fruit that looks less than their idea of perfect, even though it will taste exactly the same.

julieQ said...

A true farmer you are! I love growing things and each stage is such fun to watch. Thank you for sharing your pictures!

Ali Honey said...

Hi Joyce! It isn't that people won't buy strange shaped fruit - they probably would, it's just that we can't export them. I guess that started cause they have to fit in a plastic plix pakaging to fit in the trays.( grade standards they are called - lots of rules! )

Actually the ones that grow into the big wide heart shaped fruit taste best of all for some reason.

Unknown said...

Don´t they all taste the same?

Helen said...

Big, hairy . . . round things? I did enjoy this post - made me laugh.

meg said...

I remember the deformed Feijoas as being more tasty too! Of course we just had them growing at home, & never sold any.
Lot of hard work ahead for you.