* Visitors welcome at all our functions. Come learn about Tree Cropping!
PLEASE respect our generous hosts' property and other visitors' peaceful attendance. Bring NO pets.
Beware of health and safety hazards which may exist - children must be supervised. Bring sturdy footwear and suitable clothing. Let's all enjoy our day!
Branch Field Days & Meetings:
Newsletter Editors - Important note:
SAFETY DECLARATION.
For the purpose of Field Days, the properties we visit are designated
as work places. As there are multiple hazards, please take particular
care. Parents are responsible for their children.
July 2008
July – Sunday 20th – combined workshop with the Franklin Branch on Hazelnuts.
The workshop is going to be given by our National President Murray Redpath who is an authority on the subject.
Don and Margaret, Blackbridge Rd, Karaka are to host the field day. They have a row of hazels badly in need of pruning and welcome expertise in showing how to go about it. Many people also interested in general care of hazels and pollination in this area. They have a large shed which can be used if the weather is bad and we switch to Plan B (showing your Powerpoint presentation).
It is going ahead regardless of the weather.
June 2007
The Classic Quarter Acre Paradise
Field Day with Katrina and Phil
Lemonwood Place, Manurewa - will be signs posted.
Sunday 10 June 2007 at 1.30 pm
This is a great opportunity to see how to grow a wide
range of fresh fruit and vegetables that throughout the
year can provide a significant part of your diet Katrina
and Phil grow almost every fruit that can be grown in
Auckland as well as types that are considered more
suitable for colder climates — and all on 1000m2!
With the close proximity of the Botanical Gardens you
may like to visit there and enjoy your lunch in the sun
before coming on to the Field Day.
Remember to bring a mug for tea/coffee at afternoon tea.
May 2007
Developing a bare block
Field Day with Fiona and David
1.30 pm on Saturday, 5th May 2007
Buchanan Rd, Kingseat - will be signs posted.
Ten years ago Fiona and David began planning what to do with their
fifteen-acre property and since then they have achieved a great deal.
Come and hear about the decisions they made as they planned and
planted their block. Today there are shelter trees, an avocado orchard, a
firewood area, extensive native revegetation planting and a large home
orchard.
Here is an opportunity to understand the process of developing a block of
land. Whether you want to plant several hectares or just a couple of fruit
trees there is a wealth of experience and knowledge here to tap into.
Copies of Graeme Brown's document entitled “Developing your land” will
be available for those interested.
Wear good walking shoes and bring a mug for tea/coffee.
April 2007
Letter from the Chair
If you attended the Franklin Country Field Days at the end of March you would have seen the Tree Crops stall in the Massey hall. It was packed with information about various tree crops that will grow in our area and courtesy of Farrell's nurseries we had many interesting varieties on display. We were very fortunate that John Dean, the National President of Tree Crops and his wife Heather came up from the Bay of Plenty to assist us on our stall. Those volunteering on the stall learnt from them and enjoyed all the stories!
Our stall attracted a lot of interest and many local people took away an invitation to our next field trip with Fiona and David. If you come to that field day please do introduce yourself to any newcomers and tell them about what you have gained from Tree Crops.
Our speaker at our AGM was Bronwen Rowse from Agriculture New Zealand who told us of the various courses available here in Franklin. A particularly valuable course for anyone wanting to widen their knowledge of growing crops is the Practical Horticulture course which gives a sound understanding of the principles of horticulture and includes taxonomy of plants, plant propagation, agrichemicals, weeds and tools. This course can be run as a day or evening course once a week and is more reasonably priced than any other comparable course. There is also a landscaping course and an organics course planned.
Happenings and decisions made at the Tree Crops National Conference at UNITEC will be reported in our next newsletter.
I'm heading into my busy season of feijoa picking and once again am very aware of how lucky we are to have the rich soils and equitable climate of Franklin.
Meanwhile, enjoy all the wonderful autumn fruit and nuts. I look forward to seeing you at our forthcoming events.
Vicky Mee
Review - Field Day on Solar Hot Water, Saturday 11 November 2006
With the regularly increasing cost of electricity and gas water heating, many people are considering the option of either upgrading their existing hot water cylinder for solar hot water or replacing their current hot water cylinder with a new solar hot water capable cylinder.
Solar Panel Technology
Flat Plate Copper Collector
Previously the most common type of solar panel (solar
collector) was a flat copper tube and plate system that
transferred the heat from the solar radiation falling on the
copper plate and transferring energy to the water in the
copper pipes. With the rising cost of copper and reduced
efficiency at higher temperatures these are becoming less
common. When these collectors get hot they turn into
radiators and radiate a large percentage of the captured
energy back to the atmosphere.
Evacuated Glass Collector
Offering superior high temperature performance and
generally a lower cost, these types of collectors are
becoming more popular. Light passes the vacuum layer
where it strikes the selective surface coated on the inside of
the inner tube. The selective surface then converts the
captured light to heat and then transfers this heat to a water
filled evacuated glass tube, or more commonly an
evacuated copper heat pipe filled with distilled water.
Because this copper pipe is under vacuum the distilled water boils at 25°C, the vapour then rises to the manifold and transfers the heat to the circulating heat transfer fluid (glycol) circulating through the manifold. This cools the distilled water which then condenses and drops down to the bottom of the copper tube, where the process starts over again. Light can travel through the glass vacuum but heat cannot travel back out through the vacuum so these units become a type of one way heat capturing valve. This operates on a similar principle to the old "Thermos" vacuum flasks. Due to the circular design of the tubes the evacuated glass is always perpendicular to the sun and offers improved absorption of the sun light over a copper based flat plate collector that peaks in efficiency when the sun is directly over the collector, normally around the middle of the day.
As a general rule a well installed solar hot water heating system will save about 50% to 75% of the water heating content of your energy bill.
Solar Water Heating systems generally come in two types, I will briefly describe both types and provide typical purchasing costs. Installation would be additional.
Low Pressure Thermosyphon Types
The simplest and most basic system, these are recognised
by a horizontal cylinder with 20 or 30 tubes inserted into the
cylinder at a 45° angle. These systems are an open vented
low pressure (or more correctly no pressure) system that
typically can operate with a water source of up to 10m of
head. These are normally placed on poles or roof mounted
to provide the pressure and have only three connections:
water in, hot water out and a vent pipe. The height of the
vent pipe dictates the pressure the unit operates at.
Typically these are supplied to dairy farmers for providing
hot water for cow sheds, rural or holiday homes or areas like
Gt Barrier Island where mains power is not available. A
300L complete kitset model is available for $1700. These
thermosyphon systems often do not require a pump and can
be adapted to many different situations.
Mains Pressure, Split systems
These systems are more complicated but are suitable for
nearly all rural or urban homes. Many people are now
considering the option of either upgrading their existing hot
water cylinder for solar hot water or replacing their current
hot water cylinder with a solar hot water capable new hot
water cylinder. A solar hot water capable cylinder is
normally a standard cylinder with a heat exchange coil
installed in the lower section of the cylinder. The colder
water will sit at the lowest point of a cylinder; this position
offers the best opportunity to transfer heat from the heat
transfer fluid (glycol) to the potable water. The system
consists of a roof mounted flat panel (solar collector),
computer and pre-assembled plumbing package consisting
of a low power circulating pump, expansion vessel and the
various valves, pressure gauges and pressure relief
systems. The computer will turn the solar circulating pump
on normally when the collector temperature is 10°
higher
than the bottom of the cylinder, and will shut the pump off
when this drops to 4° hotter. This closed system normally
circulates non toxic glycol. An expansion vessel will take up
any glycol expansion once the cylinder is at its maximum
temperature as the computer will stop the circulating pump
once the cylinder has reached its maximum designed
temperature. A complete 20 Tube (suitable for a 200L
Cylinder) package costs $2425 including collector, pump,
glycol and a pre
assembled
plumbing
package. You
should allow
about one day
for a plumber to
install this.
We recommend the use of food grade glycol as a heat transfer fluid for the following reasons:
Its anti-freeze properties; Its high boiling point, 185°C; Its non-toxic properties; There is no dissolved air in glycol; water circulating systems can create problems with boiling in the pipes and create air locks and steam.
Viv Milne
Review - Field Day with Graeme and Gladys, Ohinewai, Sunday 18 March 2007
The 3.8ha property at Ohinewai is between the Waikato Expressway and the old Great South Road, not far from the Waikato River. The land is flat, being very free draining pumice/sand overlaid with 250mm peat. An aquifer about 4m down supplies water for irrigation. The main crops are 2,000 citrus and 500 figs.
Graeme and grandson Kevin welcomed the 14 Franklin and 2 Waikato Branch members on a warm but cloudy morning. He showed us the packing shed/coolroom then moved on to the figs. The majority of their figs are Brown Turkey and French Sugar, with trees ranging from 2 to 5 years old. The trees are espaliered for form and support, with the wires also carrying the dripper irrigation. With the cool summer this year, the figs only started to ripen 10 days ago so Graeme is hoping for a long, warm late summer.
Temperatures below 16°C inhibit ripening. Birds, especially waxeyes and thrushes, are very fond of figs, so Graeme picks as soon as it is light each morning with a second picking in the afternoon. The fruit is picked mature but not fully ripe, packed and kept cool until taken to market. From the market many of the figs go to the restaurant trade. Smaller numbers of other fig varieties are grown, but are less successful for both growing and marketing. The sensitivity of figs to temperature was illustrated by the variety Valosoph, which can produce a briba crop in a warm spring from canes left on the trees over winter. The cool spring in 2006 caused the whole briba crop to fall off, as well as the normal summer crop from current season's growth. The citrus plantings are much older, having been planted by the previous owner. Two full blocks are tangelos and Valencia oranges respectively. The next block has rows of Satsuma mandarins alternated with Brown Turkey figs, while the last block has partial rows of Clementine mandarins and a few Ugli fruit. The rest of that block has assorted figs and a few newly planted eucalypts for firewood. The citrus are sold at farmers‘ markets at Te Kauwhata, Huntly, Hamilton and Morrinsville.
Graeme has set up a trial of both figs and cherries in Growe Bags to restrict root growth. The figs are fruiting but not the cherries as yet. The trees have been dwarfed, which reduces the need for pruning and will allow picking from the ground for many years. While the figs are fruiting well, so are the espaliered trees on unrestricted roots. The longer term results of the trial will be interesting.
A band of light showers towards the end of the tour were largely ignored. Soon after that we retired to the barn for lunch and were grateful for its shelter as showers continued. Our own lunches were supplemented with sausages barbequed by Kevin, while many tree crop subjects were discussed. Many thanks to Graeme and Gladys for a very interesting field day.
Viv Milne
2007 Annual Conference of NZ Tree Crops Association
'A Little Bit of Everything', Unitec, Mt Albert, Auckland, 2007 April 13-15
2006 Annual Conference of NZ Tree Crops Association
'Cultivating Biodiversity', Masterton, Wairarapa, 2006 April 7-9
2005
[no details submitted, but see Event listings in Events Nationwide]
November 2004
| When: | Sunday 7th November, 10:30am |
| Where: | Pungapunga Road, Pukekawa |
| What: | HAMILTON NURSERIES GROUP Field day, with South Auckland Farm Forestry. Been to a nursury to select plants and hoped to get detailed advice from an expert? This is your chance. Jonathon Sudano and his wife Suzanne, owners of the HAMILTON NURSERIES GROUP (Fineline, Cambridge, and Sweetwaters Nurseries) will talk to us for as long as we like and answer all our questions about what to plant where, for shelter, amenity, production, and any other specific purpose. Hamilton Nurseries are major wholesalers, growing a huge range of native and exotics . We are very fortunate that Jonathon and Suzanne (winner of Her Business' Businesswoman of the Year in 2000) have agreed to give us their time and the benefit of their many years of experience. Also a representative from Agpro NZ Ltd will be coming along to talk about the use of fertilisers and herbicides So we will get the real oil on what's best to control weeds pre- and post- planting from an expert. We will meet at the far end of Pungapunga Road, Pukekawa, then we will move on to either June Fiedels's or David Gravatt's place, depending on the weather. |
| Bring: | · Your name tag · Lunch · Your gardener · At least one guest with membership potential |
March 2004
| When: | Thursday 11 March, at 7:30pm |
| Where: | Reception room, Franklin Arts Centre, Wesley Street, Pukekohe |
| What: | Medicinal Plants - history and current value in medicine - Gordon Lees (Chairman of Northern Region Branch) |
February 2004
| When: | Saturday 28 February |
| Where: | Brian Wood Lane, Karaka |
| What: | Beef; erosion control; home orchard figs and more |
November 2003
| When: | Saturday 29 November, at 1:30pm |
| Where: | Gun Club Road, Pukekohe |
| What: | Franklin's Plums and Plum Trial field day |
March 2003
| When: | Thursday 13 March |
| Where: | |
| What: | AGM and evening meeting |
February 2003
| When: | Saturday 8 February, at 1:30pm |
| Where: | Winter's Edible Park, Pukekawa |
| What: | This field day offers 200 fruit and nut varieties, 25 acres with 10,000 organic trees! |
October 2002 - Field day
| When: | 19 October, at 1.30pm |
| Where: | |
| What: | TBA |
September 2002
| When: | Saturday 14 September, at 2pm |
| Where: | Glenbrook/Waiuku Road, Glenbrook |
| What: | This field day offers the opportunity to see and discuss citrus and a variety of other tree crops with Dave Palmer who now runs the orchard established by his father, John Palmer. There is a commercial citrus orchard, plus they market other crops such as tamarillos, fiejoas, sapotes, cherimoyas, macadamias, almonds - 'anything you can grow and sell locally!' Please note the later than usual start at 2:00pm, and come equipped with your mug for refreshment afterwards. |
June 2002 - Bees
| When: | 18 June, at 7.30pm |
| Where: | MAYBE Reception rooms, Arts and Culture Centre, Wesley Street, Pukekohe |
| What: | Bees - their Life and Times |
May 2002
| When: | Saturday 18 May, at 1.30pm |
| Where: | Charles Road, Karaka (Treecrops sign, NZ flag) |
| What: |
Steve Mrkusic; Olives and Citrus - Steve is endevouring to grow organically, having applied for certification. The trees are young so not yet commercial. He also has some timber trees which are a minor part of the operation. Prompt 1.30pm start; bring mug for hot drink afterwards. |