TopFruit growers are reaping the rewards of a great ARRA™ harvest in South Africa’s Orange River and Hex Valley regions. This week, Grapa Varieties takes a look at the fruits of their labour.
South African ARRA colour range on the way to Europe
As well as the white ARRA leading variety, ARRA 15, a new, inspiring basket of coloured ARRA varieties started making its way across the water on December 15th.
ARRA 13 (ARRA Passion Star™)
This is another variety which was adopted by the Namibian and South African growers for their arid regions with great success. The fact that this variety can be grown without Gibb for sizing is a great relief for the growers, as trials proved that in general Gibb applications reduce the post-harvest quality and shelf life of the grapes.
ARRA 14 (ARRA Mystic Bloom™)
In past newsletters we gave you more information and photos of ARRA 14 grown in South Africa and Namibia with great success. Growers adopted the ARRA 14 as it travels well with no side effects and in addition, it is a very farmer-friendly and cheap to grow variety. The Northern Cape farms are now busy harvesting their ARRA 14 and ARRA 15.
ARRA 29 (ARRA Passion Fire™)
Following the Namibian harvest, the ARRA 29 performed the same quality in the Western Cape. Uniform, sweet, crunchy berries, which are easily grown to 22-24mm berry size in the initial production, giving confidence to the early industry growers.
The feedback from the growers in the Hex River Valley on the first harvest of ARRA 29 in South Africa is very encouraging and the pictures speak for themselves. The harvest started week one and will carry on until week three, the same time as Flame Seedless.
ARRA 29 harvested at Duikerskloof Farm of the Cape Orchard Company group in the Hex River Valley, Western Cape, managed by senior farm manager, Michael Vorster and his farm manager Anlo Schietekat. Packing started on December 31st and yield and grape quality are superb due to the guidance of the TopFruit team who took the growing protocol evaluations and conclusions from Aussenkehr in Namibia to the Hex River Valley in the South.
TopFruit agronomist, Stephan Nel says, “It really looks very good and we all are very excited about the ARRA 29 harvest in the Hex River Valley. It is one of the first commercial blocks of ARRA 29 in South Africa that will be harvested ever.”
ARRA 30 (ARRA Sugar Drop™)
The first commercial plantation of ARRA 30 was planted in 2017 and we at Grapa Varieties have expectations of this early variety. So far, from the growing point of view, Stephan Nel reports, “The ARRA 30 has no shot berries, an even berry size with excellent eating quality.”
Following Grapa’s experience in California in 2018, The Sweet Sensation farm did a very important trial on one of the ARRA 30 sections; they applied 1ppm CPPU on 6-7 mm berry size, It worked the best out of all the protocols, especially on the berry attachment. Stephan Nel applied the same protocol in TopFruit’s test block at Simondium and soon we’ll be able to see the results.
Code 9A-3+1
So far, the comments are very positive and growers are seeing this variety as the new early varieties’ group leader thanks to its creamy attractive colour, the hint of Muscat, the crunchiness and above all, the most farmer-friendly, early variety to grow.
Stephan Nel says, “Sweet Sensation Trial block first crop of 9A-3+1, where they did nothing to the bunches and berries, the vine planted in 2017 as cartonnage vines, ripening the same time as Early Sweet™”.
We at Grapa Varieties would like to thank Arnold, Stephan and the TopFruit team for their endless effort and tremendous contribution to the success of the ARRA programme in the African continent. All the fast progress and credit belongs to them.
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This variety has large, elongated, intense cherry-coloured berries. With excellent sugar-acid balance, cherry flavour and sensational crunch, ARD 36 CHERRY CRUSH™ is a variety that delights in appearance, taste and eating experience. Proven to be fully rain resistant, the variety also has excellent fertility and exceptional storage ability. It is the ultimate long shipping variety with the best shelf life in the industry. CHERRY CRUSH™ has it all!
Discover the ultimate red variety with ARD 35 – FIRE CRUNCH™. This early-mid variety boasts a unique fire-red colour and crunchy, large berries with a low acid level and well-balanced taste that provide a supreme eating quality. It’s a fertile and easy-to-grow variety with full uniform colour that stays red on the vine, and doesn’t get dark over time, making harvest timing very flexible. This variety also withstands rain and offers unparalleled hanging ability, cold storage capability and shelf-life capacity.
This early red seedless variety offers an exceptional eating quality. It has large, crunchy berries, a medium sized bunch and boasts an excellent natural, full, deep red colour. Although it ripens at the same time as Flame, ARRA Passion Fire surpasses its early counterpart in all other parameters. Good productivity, extraordinary hanging ability, shipping durability and shelf life make it a choice early red.
This very early red variety with its large, sweet berries, ripens naturally 10 days before Flame. The striking full red colour, together with extreme crunch and harmonious flavour make this red a must-have variety. Fire Kiss has proven to be very fertile and grower friendly, as well as bearing great post-harvest and shipping qualities.