Disclaimer: This advice does not constitute formal ANFA advice.

The advice offered by Chris is based on his experience with fingerlimes and is specific to his location.

ANFA Field Day – Byron Bay Hinterland

09 November 2024

ANFA held its third Field Day for 2024 on Saturday, 09 November at Fingerlimes Fresh/Rosebank Nursery at Rosebank in Northern NSW (https://www.rosebankgrowers.com.au/). Not only did the visit provide another opportunity for growers to get together to discuss fingerlime issues, it also afforded each participant the opportunity to see a functioning large-scale fingerlime farm and nursery in production. Chris and Paul were generous with their time, their farm and their expertise.

The knowledge passed on by Chris and Paul was gained through experimentation, through trial but mostly through error over 20 years of fingerlime growing. Chris is one of the pioneers of commercial fingerlime growing in this country and his willingness to pass on what he has learned was an opportunity not to be missed.

Participants spent much of the visit in the fingerlime orchard and in the nursery green house. In the orchard, Chris explained that the farm was initially established to grow native flowers. This morphed into fingerlimes around 20 years ago. In preparation for fingerlime planting, Chris offered the following advice:

• Ensure your block is weed free before planting.
• Deep rip the paddock and then run your discs over the paddock.
• Develop mounds along which to plant the fingerlimes. Let geography be your guide for orientation. When in doubt, orient them north – south. Mounds should be about 600mm high to allow for subsidence.
• Grass the paddock to stop soil loss. Chris suggests a mixture of Rye and Rhodes grass to stabilise the soil.
• Install drip irrigation. Chris uses 100m runs of drip tape with an emitter every 300 mm. Chris provides each tree around 20L of water per week. Chris recommends against the use of sprinklers.
• Depending on variety, plant the trees between 1.5m and 2m apart
• Plant when the risk of frost has disappeared and place the trees into tree sleeves. Keep the sleeves on the trees until the first tips of the trees are above the top of the bag and then remove.
• Orchard design needs to be informed by geography, picker access and ease of use, and the ability to get tractors and other farm machinery in between the rows.

When considering maintenance of the orchard, Chris suggested the following:

• Follow the DPI page for citrus care and nutrition.
• While opinions are divided on this issue, Chris suggests that you don’t be afraid to foliar spray your trees. In his soil type (red, loose soil) Chris sprays Magnesium and Zinc. Iron is not regularly required in this soil type. Chris recommends against fertilising by fertigation.
• Spray copper and sulphur to combat fungal issues.
• Regularly fertilise with a general fertiliser like CK88 at a rate of 2m3 per hectare.
• Use Biochar (if available)
• Skirting the trees is important to keep fruit off the ground and it also allows for more effective weed spraying.
• While opinions are divided on this issue too, Chris prunes his trees regularly. The method Chris uses is to hedge prune and top prune to allow for access between the rows and to keep the fingerlime tree accessible for pickers. The pruned portions are thrown into the middle of the row, then they are mulched, and finally a side throw mower is used to throw the mulched prunings back under the trees.

Chris’ mantra is to mechanise as much of your operation as possible. Chris showed the attendees his protype mechanical picker (a game changer for the industry if it can be mass produced) and his hedging machines. Chris was also open to showing participants his de-pearling machine and he discussed his process for turning his fingerlimes into Fingerlimes Fresh frozen pearls (https://www.fingerlimesfresh.com.au/collections/featured-products/products/fresh-mixed-bead-finger-lime-caviar-500g-pouch). Unsurprisingly, Chris requested that no photographs be taken of the mechanical harvester or the de-pearling machine. Chris also took participants through his processing shed and explained the steps he takes to ensure his products meet the various accreditation and certification requirements.

It was then Paul’s turn to take us through the Rosebank Growers nursery operation. The nursery offers fingerlime trees in three conditions:

• Grafted trees in 50 mm tubes
• Cuttings in 50 mm tubes
• Cuttings in 90 mm tubes

Please see https://www.rosebankgrowers.com.au/collections/fingerlime-trees for details.

The visit then shifted gear with a presentation by Rebecca Barnes from Playing With Fire Native Foods Pty Ltd. Rebecca provided attendees with:

• A history of the use of fingerlimes, and
• options on indigenous companies in the fingerlime industry and how we could approach them.

Rebecca’s company offers ANFA members some excellent avenues for selling fingerlimes. If anyone is interested in discussing the art of the possible with Rebecca, please contact her at ozberries@hotmail.com

If you’d like to see what Rebecca and her team do and what they offer, please visit https://www.playingwithfire.com.au/

Peter Prentis was unable to attend in person, so he provided a video version of his presentation. His presentation, entitled ‘Investigating genetic diversity in wild populations and commercial varieties of finger limes’ is available on the Member site. I encourage all members to listen to Peter’s presentation and consider assisting him with his research. All the details are in his presentation.

The visit concluded around lunchtime with a superb light lunch and more discussion. It was another great fingerlime day.

The ANFA Board thanks Chris and Paul for their generosity of time and expertise. Thanks also go to Rebecca for her presentation and participation in the ANFA Field Day. Finally, thanks go to Jade who was, as usual, the powerhouse organiser for the event.

Our next event is tentatively scheduled for the first quarter of 2025, location TBA.

If you have any questions, have any ideas for future events, or want to host a future event, please contact us at info@australianfingerlimealliance.com.au

Blog by Chip Saint – ANFA Director & Board Member