Apricot Picking / Packing
How Apricots in Australia Propagate Compared To Other Fruit-bearing Trees
In Australia, the fruit industry is one of their biggest trade when it comes to food and farming. Fruit bearing trees also have their own interesting facts, and like the Apricot, one of its best features has been its ability to propagate with just one tree. It doesn’t require other Apricot trees for pollination so whether you plant a tree in your backyard, or you wish to have them for mass production, they can easily grow and bear fruit. The Apricot tree thrives during the cold season just like cherries and strawberries. If they are planted outside the cold season, they have the tendency to wither as the winter season comes.
The fruits of an Apricot tree can bear too many fruits that they tend to share the nutrients. The large distribution of limited nutrients can cause the fruit to grow slow and small. Producers of Apricot fruits usually apply the thinning process in order to make sure that the fruits can grow freely with enough space to expand. The first process of thinning is what you call pruning. Pruning the branches will allow gaps and space for the fruit to grow instead of cramping in similar spots. The second method is by mechanically removing some of its buds, and leaves those selected ones for the fruit to bear.
The main food for Apricots, or what you call fertilizer, includes phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen. Farmers tend to treat and prepare the soil before planting in order to provide for the basic needs of a healthy Apricot tree. Although peaches, nectarine and plums are the most common fruit bearing trees during summer in Australia, apricots are also part of the 100,000 tons of fruits that they supply each year. Once peaches and nectarines begin to crown the markets, you can be sure that it is the beginning of the summer fruit season in Australia.
The nectarines and juicy peach season begin in November to April and plums and apricots usually come out during the months of December to April. In Australia, the Southern Hemisphere is readied for the plantation of counter – seasonal fruits. The balance production completed by Northern producers of fresh and year- round fruits, ready for export market.
The old English Apricot named Moorpark is still one of the favourite flavour in Australia. It is also known to notoriously bear fruit at a time, but usually rests on the next season, having few or none at all. The six states of Australia can all produce apricots but they are known to be heavily produced in Victoria, near the Goulbern Valley region.
Apricots need to fully ripe while they’re still in the trees before they can be harvested. You will know by visual when an apricot is ripe as its colour changes from green to yellow – orange. They also become a little bit tender once they are ripe. Apricots are carefully handpicked and may take 1-3 weeks to finishing picking them; this is to allow the rest of the fruit to be fully ripe. The fruits are stacked in a single layer in order to prevent them from getting rotten easily.
