INSPIRED by a century-old tree in their garden, Wal and Robyn Wood have carved a niche in Australia's persimmon industry.

The couple, of Georges Creek in North East Victoria, have an 1100-tree orchard supplying metropolitan domestic markets.

GEORGES CREEK ORCHARD

• TALLANGATTA
• Property: persimmons, beef cattle
• Size: 43ha
• Sale: private
• Price: $550,000
• Agent: Landmark, Albury
• Contact: (02) 6025 1677

Wal and Robyn grow the modern sweet persimmon varieties, which can be eaten like an apple.

They had been running beef cattle and growing advanced trees before hitting on the idea of a persimmon orchard.

"We have a persimmon tree that was planted when our farm house was built at the turn of the (20th) century," Robyn said.

"In the 1980s, I noted in The Weekly Times that persimmons were being sold at the Melbourne markets.

"For three to four years we sent fruit from our old tree to the market.

"We thought that if we could make $300-$400 off one tree, why not put in more."

The high rainfall and fertile brown loam soils of the Georges Creek valley proved ideal for persimmons.

The valley's isolation from other horticultural crops meant few problems with pest and disease.

In the 1980s, a 43ha grazing block was planted to 1100 non-astringent Japanese varieties called fuyu and jiro.

"These non-astringent varieties were new to Australia at the time, having been imported in 1976 as a commercial venture," Robyn said.

"We decided to put 25 trees in as a trial and increased that to 1000."

Technical and marketing advice was provided by the Australian Persimmon Export Company.

Over the years, the couple have supplied mainly the domestic market but have exported fruit to Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia.

The 2.8ha orchard boasts Freshcare Quality Assurance, with zero use of insecticides or fungicides, and small amounts of Roundup used for weed control.

A 22-megalitre water right enables a fully automatic irrigation system to supply two litres an hour through dripper lines.

The water is stored in a spring-fed 22-megalitre dam and gravity-fed to the orchard, with irrigation scheduling determined by water and temperature monitors.

Fruit is harvested by hand from May 1 to mid-June, followed by pruning in August and fruit thinning in December.

"Fruit is individually priced at up to $3 in Singapore and $2-$3 in Sydney and Melbourne," Wal said.

He said many consumers were wary of persimmons after tasting old, astringent varieties.

"These varieties often grew in granny's backyard, were bitter-tasting and had a mushy, furry texture," he said.

The modern industry is based almost entirely on sweet Japanese varieties, comprising fuyu (70 per cent of plantings), jiro (15 per cent), izu (10 per cent) and suruga (5 per cent).

These varieties bear sweet, orange-red fruit with a firm, crisp texture.

Persimmon trees are grown from grafted nursery stock on trellises in intensive orchard blocks.

Over-tree netting protects from bird and fruit-bat damage.

Australia grows about 350,000 trees of sweet cultivars, with an estimated fruit production of 450,000 trays.

On a global scale, Australia grows less than 0.5 per cent of world production. With an average orchard size of 440 trees, yields range from five to 35 tonnes/ha.

The main sweet persimmon production areas are southern Queensland, northern NSW, the Goulburn Valley, the Riverland and Western Australia.

Robyn said persimmons were mainly eaten as a dessert, in salads, curries, cakes or served on a cheese platter.

"In the 24 years we have been in the industry, there has never been a hiccup in price," she said.

"We are the last orchard to pick in Australia so get the premium prices at the end of the season.

"The mature trees yield about 10 trays or 40kg of fruit each."

The trees are on a 6m by 3.5m row spacing, are pruned on a palmette system, fertilised with poultry manure and heavily mulched.

Included in the sale is the equipment needed for packaging, including a grading machine, polisher, drying tunnel, picking trolleys and pallet wrapper.

The rest of the property is subdivided into two paddocks, with the perennial pastures carrying 32 cows and calves.

Georges Creek Orchard is just 3km from the full level of Lake Hume and has views to the Mt Granya state forest.

"This property would appeal to a semi-retired person who wants a tree- change with a good income," Wal said.

"We are looking to retirement but will continue to live locally and are willing to help the buyer during the transition period."