The organsation’s NZ market coordinator, Trisha Aitken, said the wrist bands will help pickers decide which fruit to pick and which fruit to leave on the tree to grow and ripen further. “The bands are great for new or inexperienced pickers as they are a constant reminder of the colour fruit they should be looking to pick. ‘Growers also found they are really helpful for first or second picks, when there is still a lot of immature fruit on the trees.”

The wristbands are the result of a three-year AGMARDT/Summerfruit NZ-funded project ‘Harvest Assurance Tools’ and follow trialling the bands with apricot, nectarine and peach growers in Hawkes Bay and Central Otago.

“Fruit colour is a major trigger for deciding fruit maturity and therefore deciding when and what to pick. The colours for the wristbands were chosen following trials which closely matched certain colours with certain varieties. However that doesn’t mean they can’t be used for other varieties too,” Aitken said.

The trials found that the wristbands helped with training new staff and also reduced the amount of time required to supervise pickers.

Aitken said the hardwearing bands are used by advertisers, charities and event organisers as they are comfortable to wear and won’t split, tear or fade. Available in packs of ten, order forms are being sent to growers and can be downloaded from the Summerfruit NZ website: www.summerfruitnz.co.nz

“The colours available focus on apricot, nectarine and peach varieties, but cherry and plum colour wrist bands are being trialled for release this time next year,” according to Aitken.

Photo: Apricots and wristbands in a fruit bin – Trisha Aitken