Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Tuesday 26 December 1933, page 17


GROWING OF PASSION FRUIT.

Sir,-With reference to the article on this subject, I fear the effect of quoting such attractive prices is likely to be the encouragement of the wholesale planting of passion fruit, which, if it results In over-production, may mean disaster to those specialising in the industry. The statement is made that the Brisbane market absorbs about 70 tons a year. The members of the Mt. Cotton Passion Fruit Growers' Association alone produce more than three times that amount, and sell probably 70 per cent, in Brisbane.

The prices said to be usually obtained by growers are greatly exaggerated. Our association has been fighting for some years to maintain a price adequate for production, but exaggeration must eventually accentu-ate the position. It may be calculated eventually to cheapen a product to manufacturers, processors, and consumers, but its effect is ruinous to the producers, both established and new. With regard to production per annum, there are not more than two productive years to the life of commercial passion fruit vines, where the bulk of this State's production is grown. Then trellises have to be pulled down and re-erected for new vines. Your prescription for dealing with spot or red fleck Is easier prescribed than carried out at a profit. It is only applicable to the district in which the Department of Agriculture carried out the experiments, and worked out the formula. It is to be regretted that the department saw fit to conduct its experiments in one district only, where the local conditions of production are entirely different from where 90 per cent, of the State's output is produced, thereby missing vital points. It is generally conceded that spraying without pruning is in-effective. You say, Pruning after the summer crop has commenced to set will reduce summer crop, but increase winter crop." But it is undesirable to increase the winter crop excepting for a district like Mount Tamborine. A normal winter crop is at present more than adequate for the market and processes requirements. juice extractors will not operate on the winter fruit, so why increase the winter

output?

Pruning the vines before the setting of the summer crop means sacrificing the most valuable of the intermediate crops, and may mean missing the early summer market. Passion fruit arrive on the market from this district throughout the year. How and when are we to prune so as not to reduce but improve the aggregate net return per acre? In conclusion, the mean of the average daily or average weekly market prices does not indicate the producers' gross average per case. It Is the average return on the grower's annual output that counts, and not the price obtainable when growers have to search perhaps two miles of

trellises or more per case of fruit.

are, sir, c"

H. HEINEMANN, Chairman; A. A. BENFER, Secretary; Ernest H. FABIAN, Treasurer; Mt. Cotton Pas-sion Fruit Growers' Association.

[The article was based on information officially supplied. Ed.]