Brothers Tom and Harry Masterson are partners in Green Planet Ltd.

They own and lease a number of organic apple orchards in Hawke’s Bay and also run a substantial apple packing operation.  They registered with Bio-Gro in 1998.  “I felt the writing was on the wall for conventional apple growing and that organic offered us the brighter future” Tom says.

Orchard managers Mike Cashmore and Tom, jointly determine orchard management principals.  “I count myself very fortunate to have a great team working for us.  They have taken a big interest in what’s going on and we have also made an effort to keep our team informed with what we are trying to achieve with out biological work.   Organic growing doesn’t take prisoners – you don’t get a second shot – that’s why it is terribly important everyone understands things like the way fungal spores function rather than being told to just put a particular product of products in the tank and spray” observes Tom.  “Mike and I believe that if the guys know why they are doing something they have purpose and pride in going it right.”

The Masterson brothers put up one of their orchards as a trial block for biological experimentation and education.  Known originally as The Focus Block it is now referred to as The Innovation Orchard.  “It has been a fascinating and at times scary exercise” according to Tom.  “One of the goals was a drastic reduction in the use of lime sulphur to control Blackspot.  But the major focus has been on improving the soil.”

The last growing season a block of Braeburn was used to trial the BioAg soil and foliar product range.  Unfortunately like a lot of other blocks this one was affected from frosts. From a visual point of view the fruit size, quality and quantity and the evenness of extension growth looked better than the control.  Change in the grass sward was particularly impressive as there was less coarse grass species, more clover and no soil compaction even in the wheel tracks.  The earthworm population and size if the worms is impressive.  Staff also enjoyed the ease of application of the BioAg products and the fact they could be included with other sprays saving the time and cost of extra trips through the block.

“We will certainly be continuing with BioAg and I expect to see results apparent in the foliage and fruit this season.  I’ve been orcharding all my working life and frankly this biological thing is exciting and fascinating.  It’s truly sustainable farming” Tom concludes.