News

Nov 08, 2023

Apple farmers use sunscreen, reflectors to enhance pink lady crop

The pink lady apple variety is known for its rosy colour, but more goes into

The pink lady apple variety is known for its rosy colour, but more goes into developing the hues than just letting the fruit grow on the tree.

Apple growers go to extreme lengths to make their fruit look its absolute best so consumers grab it at the supermarket.

Donnybrook grower Neil Yates said he had laid down reflective sheeting ahead of his upcoming harvest to give his apples the best shot at a consumer-friendly colour.

He said the sheets reflected light onto the fruit to give it a well-rounded colour from all angles.

"We get a more complete colouring of the fruit, certainly the stuff laid down in the trees, the under sides, and sides, we can get another 12 to 15 per cent colour [on the] fruit," Mr Yates said.

"The pack out goes up and customers are more happy with the with the colour on the fruit.

"The demand, I guess, is for the best looking piece of fruit."

He said he mostly used a disposable reflective sheet, but other growers commonly used reusable sheets.

"It's just almost like a Glad Wrap that's been sprayed and it comes up to almost a mirror type finish," he said.

Mr Yates said reusable sheeting was more like a white tarp held to the ground with bungee cords.

"We still use the throwaway stuff because we've got a big stock of it to use," he said.

Mr Yates said he also had to be careful his apples did not get too much sun.

"We summer prune and once we get some of the leaves off the trees then we've got to put a sunscreen on, so we don't end up with too much sunburn damage and that sort of thing," he said.

He said the sunscreen was designed specifically for fruit.

"It's an aluminium silicate, virtually non-toxic," he said.

"It just coats the apples and gets brushed off in a pack house."

Mr Yates said high quality colour allowed him to send more produce to market.

"It means we get more fruit per bin into the boxes, so we get paid for more of it as grade one fruit," he said.

Nardia Stacy, executive manager of industry group Pomewest, said producers worked hard to ensure consumers got the apple quality they desired.

"Consumers very often buy with their eyes, but I think they come back for the taste, so the taste has to back up the appearance for sure," she said.

She said the extra efforts growers put in for apple colour had a minimal impact on eating quality.

"It doesn't make any difference to the taste, it just keeps the makes the apple colour up a little bit better," Ms Stacy said.

"With every piece of fruit, they're growing to a certain quality standards, so to get that piece of fruit top notch for the consumer is very important."