Orchard visit: Mike & Kathy Davenport, Rolleston

February 2019

Mike and Kathy have another Stephen Brailsford planned orchard of 1000 trees, all planted 12 years ago. They use Organibor, which is a 5-year fertiliser, and have realised that undissolved granules will be removed when cleaning up the orchard floor ready for harvest. At harvest they blow the nuts out of the centre of the row, rake them up and then use the harvester to suck up the nuts. Last year they got 1 kg/tree and are looking for more this year.

Some trees were hit by blight in years 2-3 and struggled to recover for a few years, but are coming away now.

Mike demonstrated some of his equipment, particularly a spray spreader attachment.


Sprayer tank mounted on ride-on mower

Mike Davenport’s sprayer

Vacuum harvester and small pull-behind trailer

and Chianchia harvester used in conjunction with an enclosed trailer for pre-harvest cleaning