A new planting method being used by some of Giumarra's blackberry growers allows the fruit to be harvested more easily, while also improving berry quality. 

Traditional methods involve the use of vertical posts connected with wires along the row, meaning the plants grow upward toward the sun and sprout lateral primocanes on both sides of the bush.

Giumarra vice president of global development Tom Richardson told www.freshfruitportal.com the new method used trellises in an inverted L-shape, so the bushes grow upwards for one foot, then horizontally for five feet.

"So the primocanes are growing on top of a five-foot section that's horizontal. After the flowers bloom and start to produce the fruit, the structure is lifted up past vertical, so what was originally up is now on the lower side," he said.

"Also, when you lift that structure, it means that all the fruit will just be on one side of the trellis."

Richardson said the biggest advantage of the technique was that pickers could harvest the fruit faster and more quickly, as they only had to access one side.

Another benefit comes by way of the foliage shading the developing fruit from the sun, leaving it less exposed to strong afternoon heat.

"What we're finding is we're not producing more fruit, but more of the fruit finally makes its way into the punnet or clamshell from the bush," Richardson said.

"So the pickers can pick the fruit more easily and faster, and the fruit quality is in general better than the traditional method."

He added one drawback was that if a series of cloud days was experienced after the trellis has been lifted into place, it could slow down the fruit's maturing process slightly as compared to the traditional planting method.

The trellis in the horizontal position

The trellis in the upright position

www.freshfruitportal.com