With three canopy-hectares of thriving avocado trees, plus a recently purchased six canopy-hectare block, you could say Maria Watchorn has a particularly green thumb. Or you might say she has orcharding in her blood. As a child growing up in Whakatane she spent a lot of time in the garden with her Italian father. \u201cHe is an amazing gardener,\u201d she says. \u201cYou sort of learn by osmosis.\u201d Her husband and fellow orchardist, Andrew, believes she has a natural affinity for it. But start talking to this couple and you quickly realise their success is also down to a lot of hard work.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The story of how they came to be living in a picturesque patch of rural Tauranga starts with banking of all things. They were both climbing the corporate ladder when their son, Caleb, now 14, came along.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cWe were sort of lucky enough to make a choice as to whether I was going to stay home or not and we decided I would, even though I was very pulled because I had worked so hard to get where I was,\u201d says Maria. Not one to sit still for very long, she soon needed a project, plus Andrew wanted out of the banking game, so they started looking for a kiwifruit orchard to buy as a source of income.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
In 2005, they stumbled across their current abode. At that time it was a predominantly citrus orchard and the couple were surprised to find avocados growing among the citrus trees \u2013 they decided to stick with them. Not least, says Maria, because of how aesthetically appealing the trees are. There was a small catch. \u201cI knew absolutely zilch about avocados,\u201d says Maria. And so started an intensive research phase \u2013 \u201cI used to spend a lot of time at the library\u201d. The avocado industry was still a fledgling one at that stage and the couple found themselves pioneers of sorts with some of the initiatives they introduced. \u201cWe put a full frost protection system throughout the whole orchard and I\u2019m not sure if there was anyone in the industry back then who had ever done that,\u201d says Maria. \u201cThat money has probably saved us numerous times,\u201d adds Andrew. This foresight was not their only inspired move.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Early on in her avocado career, Maria used what she had learned from her father and it proved to bear much fruit, so to speak. \u201cWhen I was younger, whenever the trees were fruiting my dad always used to go around and thin things so that what was left was a good-sized fruit \u2013 to make sure the plant could sustain the volume that was on it. I made some enquiries and got a pruner in to thin out the flower so it actually reduced our crop and gave more vigour to the tree. We did that, and that was not really happening in the industry either.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cWe started to do big limb pruning that year as well \u2013 opening up the trees and managing the height to make sure they were in good health the following season. We never just plan for today. I think you can\u2019t be short-sighted with avocado trees,\u201d says Maria.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Pruning may not have been the industry standard back then but it is certainly big news now. \u201cIt\u2019s become a way of the future for avocados,\u201d says Maria.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
While the industry here includes high-producing, consistent orchards such as the Watchorns\u2019, not everybody is in the same boat. NZ Avocado\u2019s Research & Development programme engages expertise from scientists, growers and consultants to develop best practice for orchardists to improve production.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
R&D manager Alvaro Vidiella leads the industry\u2019s research programme, developed in collaboration with Plant & Food Research, with investment from the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment and the Ministry for Primary Industries\u2019 Primary Growth Partnership. NZ Avocados is working with Maria as part of a Canopy Management Working Group with the aim of identifying, characterising and evaluating pruning techniques. \u201cIt\u2019s such an evolving industry and it\u2019s so exciting now we are seeing results,\u201d says Maria. \u201cThe NZ Avocado team are all so positive and motivated and I think that helps drive the growers as well.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
One of the most exciting parts of the Watchorns\u2019 work schedule is harvest time. \u201cIn Italy the harvest is such a big thing \u2013 I don\u2019t think we celebrate it enough here in New Zealand.\u201d The Watchorns are changing that. \u201cMy mother comes and we cook for a week and then family and friends arrive and it\u2019s just such a cool event.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Unsurprisingly, given her Italian background, cooking is another great love of Maria\u2019s. She\u2019s lucky enough to have some beautiful fresh produce to choose from with her own vege garden, chickens, eggs, sheep, cows and, of course, avocados. Her favourite recipe? \u201cSmoked salmon, red onion, capers and lots of avocado, drizzled with lemon juice and extra virgin avocado oil, served on bread \u2013 divine,\u201d she says.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
When the hard work is over, the couple also have plenty of time to play. \u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of not working at the bank, because it gives us that flexibility. When Caleb\u2019s on holiday, we can be on holiday,\u201d says Andrew of their lifestyle.
One of the other big pay-offs of owning an avocado orchard is the pride the Watchorns feel about their product.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cAvocados are an amazing food \u2013 they have folate, potassium, vitamin B6, so many good things \u2013 they\u2019re such a superfood,\u201d says Maria.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Andrew agrees. \u201cThat\u2019s why you feel good \u2013 it\u2019s because we know we have the best fruit in the world.\u201d<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fruits of their labour \u2013 Tauranga Maria and Andrew Watc<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10721,"parent":15337,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-15339","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","wpautop"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/nzavocado.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Meet-the-growers-Maria-and-Andrew-Watchorn-1-1-2.jpg",2550,600,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/nzavocado.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Meet-the-growers-Maria-and-Andrew-Watchorn-1-1-2-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/nzavocado.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Meet-the-growers-Maria-and-Andrew-Watchorn-1-1-2-300x71.jpg",300,71,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/nzavocado.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Meet-the-growers-Maria-and-Andrew-Watchorn-1-1-2-768x181.jpg",768,181,true],"large":["https:\/\/nzavocado.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Meet-the-growers-Maria-and-Andrew-Watchorn-1-1-2-1024x241.jpg",1024,241,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/nzavocado.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Meet-the-growers-Maria-and-Andrew-Watchorn-1-1-2-1536x361.jpg",1536,361,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/nzavocado.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Meet-the-growers-Maria-and-Andrew-Watchorn-1-1-2-2048x482.jpg",2048,482,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/nzavocado.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Meet-the-growers-Maria-and-Andrew-Watchorn-1-1-2-100x100.jpg",100,100,true],"smallest":["https:\/\/nzavocado.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Meet-the-growers-Maria-and-Andrew-Watchorn-1-1-2-100x100.jpg",100,100,true],"largest":["https:\/\/nzavocado.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Meet-the-growers-Maria-and-Andrew-Watchorn-1-1-2-400x500.jpg",400,500,true],"sidebar-image":["https:\/\/nzavocado.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Meet-the-growers-Maria-and-Andrew-Watchorn-1-1-2-328x328.jpg",328,328,true],"ourblog-image":["https:\/\/nzavocado.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Meet-the-growers-Maria-and-Andrew-Watchorn-1-1-2-600x600.jpg",600,600,true],"home-blog-image":["https:\/\/nzavocado.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Meet-the-growers-Maria-and-Andrew-Watchorn-1-1-2-267x200.jpg",267,200,true],"recipe-detail-image":["https:\/\/nzavocado.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Meet-the-growers-Maria-and-Andrew-Watchorn-1-1-2-267x200.jpg",267,200,true]},"post_excerpt_stackable":"
Fruits of their labour \u2013 Tauranga Maria and Andrew Watchorn\u2019s green patch of paradise in Tauranga is…<\/p>\n","category_list":"","author_info":{"name":"kite","url":"https:\/\/nzavocado.com\/th\/author\/kite\/"},"comments_num":"0 comments","yoast_head":"\n