Honestly speaking, I am not even sure how long it has been now stuffed away from the rest of the world in the countryside.
It must be a month or even more.
Thankfully, there has been quite a lot to get stuck into. The dairy cows, the chicken, the kitchen garden, and the farm. All that in between fulfilling orders for clients online which is how I make a living.
It is probably a relief since I am saving more than I am spending at the time which has allowed me to put more into crypto investments, Hive especially, than I have ever done before.
But enough of that.
Today I would love to show off one of the commercial activities on the farm that I had alluded to in an earlier post, My Quarantine Story - The new normal!
What are Tamarillos/Tree Tomatoes?
The Tamarillo is a fast-growing fruit tree and usually starts producing the first harvest within 1.5 years. Peak production usually takes place within 4 years with each plant increasing production 3-fold, sometimes 4-fold.
The life expectancy of the plant is 10-12 years depending on how well the crop has been tended to.
The plant is highly susceptible to drought conditions though due to the massive leaves that encourage a high rate of transpiration.
Moderate shade is advised as well as frequent watering especially in the morning to avoid loss of water from the soil through evaporation.
Mulching is equally an exemplary way of maintaining moisture around the roots of the Tamarillo ensuring plant stress due to drought is reduced significantly.
Why should you plant Tamarillo?
There is one major reason why Tamarillo is the perfect fruit tree to plant commercially.
If you are doing relatively medium-scale commercial production and you have a choice between the Yellow Passion and the Tamarillo go with the latter.
The Yellow Passion is highly susceptible to diseases and insect pests making the management of the crop a massive headache.
By the time you are getting your first harvest, a lot of money will have been sunk into maintaining the health of the plant, not forgetting the numerous large pests such as birds that will attack your ripening fruit at any possible moment.
The image above is from the previous Yellow Passion crop that we have since eliminated in favor of the Tamarillo.
Unfortunately, the crop gave us a net loss and was often requiring more and more funds to keep production going which was not sustainable leading to the decision to eliminate the crop.
The land is now being prepared for a fresh crop of Tamarillo which will thankfully and effectively double production of the weekly harvest next year.
Our most recent harvest of Tamarillo.
What you are looking at there is 160kgs of Tamarillo - our biggest haul yet. The crazy thing is that if we maintain the same crop management and improving processes regularly, as the crop matures this will only be a quarter of what we would get per week.
We are estimating that as the crop matures - we are in the second year - our take-home weekly will be anywhere between 400 and 500kgs.
At market prices, that haul will fetch $400 - $600 a week. It would fetch even better prices if the produce was exported. However, that is not our focus at the moment.
The fruit is packed in boxes that absorb external impacts, therefore, preventing damage to the farm produce during transport.
The box is then wrapped in a 90kg bag and sown. The bags help maintain the integrity of the boxes which can break quite easily in transit.
We stashed the bags in the back of our ever-reliable farmyard workhorse, a 16-year-old station wagon that has served us so efficiently that no major repairs have ever been done to it.
Apart from the creaking seats due to aging seat frames and the stiff suspensions, I can't imagine a more fun ride. 😂
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A final note, Tamarillo is very rich in Vitamin C. It makes a very healthy juice and you wouldn't even need to add sugar to it.
Blend with a bit of orange and pineapple fruit and you will probably never reach for another soft drink ever again. I promise. 🙂
As always, stay safe, stay healthy, and stay optimistic.
Hive is pumping! 🙂