Jaboticaba, a
New Crop to Look For
Scientific
Name: Myrciaria cauliflora
Family:
Myrtaceae
Jaboticabas,
a southern Brazilian tree fruit, are showing an ability to thrive under
a wide range of conditions, and so far appear immune to pests and
diseases.
But Cootharaba grower Len Evans suspects that as the
industry grows, some problem will sooner or later have to be overcome.
So far, after more than three years establishing an orchard, Evans has
not had to spray his trees at all.
Jaboticabas have been around in
Australia for many years, but have only recently received recognition
as having commercial potential.
The tree is propagated from seed
under hot and humid germination conditions, and takes two years in the
nursery before planting out. A first, light picking can be expected two
years later, with the first commercial pick expected at four to five
years after field planting. Evans says financial break-even on the
orchard is expected at around year eight.
Trees may grow up to
12 metres in rich soils and, while full commercial life is not yet
known, it should certainly extend to 30 or 40 years, he said.
At
Cootharaba, Evans has 160 jaboticabas which have been in the ground for
more than three years, and another 300 in his nursery ready to plant
out.
He established and manages an adjacent orchard. This has
200 trees which have been planted out for nine to twelve months and 530
are in the nursery ready to plant.
"Jaboticabas are an excellent
horticultural tree for the coastal wallum country," Evans said. "They
love waterlogging, and seem impervious to any attacks by pests and
disease. We have never sprayed, although we do get a bit of woolly
aphid in the first week of spring. The trees will also take a fair
amount of frost, which means industry expansion will probably spread
from subtropics down towards warm temperate zones, rather than towards
the tropics where yields are smaller."
The jaboticaba orchard
also survived a severe hail storm, with no more than the loss of a few
leaves, when other orchard trees surrounding it were devastated.
Evans'
interest in jaboticabas began at a Maroochy Horticultural Research
Station four years ago, where two trays of the fruit were on display.
"Kids kept coming back to eat them and I tried one myself. It was an
excellent fruit, and I decided to establish an orchard."
First trees were acquired and supplied by John Brady, Pomona Mountain
View Nursery. Later Evans propagated his own.
Jaboticabas
are perfectly round black fruits when ripe, varying from 10 cent piece
to 50 cent piece size in diameter, with an average of 30 mm. They have
a distinctive and, to most, a very attractive flavour, and contain one
to three edible small seeds.
Jaboticabas are eaten as a table fruit, usually with skin, and are used
in jellies, juices and wine-making.
Orchard
establishment takes place in mounded rows, nine metres apart. A 60 cm
strip is rotary hoed along the top of the mound, and the same strip is
deep ripped.
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