The Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) is helping to preserve Tasmania’s rich apple growing history with the planting of heritage apple trees at the 50 Trees Heritage Orchard at the University of Tasmania’s Newnham campus.
This expands the collection of heritage apples at the site from 26 to 37 varieties and is an important step towards ensuring Tasmania’s diverse apple history is safeguarded for the future.
The 30 newly planted trees represent 11 varieties of apple trees sourced from the Tasmanian Government’s heritage orchard at the Grove Research Station. The varieties are not currently represented at Newnham and will further expand the collection that dates back to the 1800s.
“We’re excited to play our part in helping to preserve Tasmania’s rich apple growing and apple research history for future generations,” TIA entomologist Dr Justin Cappadonna said.
“The supply of additional heritage apple trees will help TIA in its plan to provide a living library of apple varieties and contribute to the research and teaching about lesser-known apple types.
“We’re incredibly lucky to have an orchard in the middle of the campus and privileged to be given these heritage apple varieties.”
The planting was celebrated at TIA’s hands-on ‘Prune-iversity’ workshop, where participants helped expand the orchard while also learning how to prune and shape apple trees and keep an orchard healthy and thriving.
TIA tree crop physiologist Dr Leticia Reis said the workshop gave participants a hands-on opportunity to learn best-practice techniques.
“The Prune-iversity workshop was a great opportunity to demonstrate how strategic pruning supports canopy management and fruit quality,” Dr Reis said.
“Pruning helps establish a well-balanced tree structure, improves light and airflow, controls tree size, and balances crop load.”
The State Government has supplied TIA with more than 140 heritage apple trees, with additional trees to be planted at the Newnham orchard in coming months.
The planting is part of a major revitalisation underway at the site, with TIA’s agricultural scientists contributing their expertise to the University of Tasmania’s community garden team.
Minister for Primary Industries and Water, Gavin Pearce, said they don’t call Tasmania the Apple Isle for nothing.
“Tasmania’s apple-growing story is a significant part of our agricultural heritage, and projects like this help ensure those unique varieties are preserved for generations to come,” Minister Pearce said.
“By revitalising the 50 Trees Heritage Orchard, we’re backing in the outstanding team at TIA to create a valuable resource for research, education and community engagement.”
The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens has also received 11 apple varieties from Grove Research Station. They will be maintained as nursery stock while a suitable planting location within the Gardens is identified.
The 11 apple varieties from Grove are: Delicious Royden Red, Bryant Gravenstein, Goldspur, Yoko, Cox Makatdar, Delicious Starkes, Early Stayman, Fuji Ogura, Fuji Brazil, Charden and Lys Golden.
