Riverland Date Garden in Gurra Gurra | Agricultural cooperative

Riverland Date Garden

Locality: Gurra Gurra

Phone: +61 438 821 593

Address: 376 Gurra Road 5343 Gurra Gurra, SA, Australia

Website: http://www.riverlanddates.com.au

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24.01.2022 I had my Barhee on Sydney Markets this morning - price I receive from agent sets my price to direct to customer sales - This morning I received $30kg - all orders until further notice will be $30kg + postage

23.01.2022 Always something to do - this week in between other jobs - have been doing a cleanup in some of my male palms - before the harvest starts - yearly job

23.01.2022 With apricot harvest on - Date palm work got behind - today trying to do some catch up - Had 2 Medjool palms that bunchs havent been tied and bagged down + bit of fruit thinning needed - good fruit set 11 bunchs each palm

22.01.2022 Think important especially here in Australia - as our pollinating season can go for good length of time from August till the end of October. To have different male varieties - I like to give fresh pollen - usually I mix stored pollen from last season with fresh pollen at a rate of 50/50 when pollinating - Yesterday had a lot of male spathes opening up. - this seedling variety has not the biggest spathes - but always packed with pollen

21.01.2022 Been a long harvest season this year - cooler temperatures havent helped - due for rain today so this morning went and finished harvest of Khadrawy - exquisite caramel taste - Smaller than Medjool and in my opinion better tasting date

21.01.2022 Harvest has finished for the year - still some Medjool and Khadrawy dates for sale - but now concentrate in tidying up the palms - photos are of Medjool before and after removing the flower stalks - at same time try to dethorn as much of the fronds that I can - in preparation for pollination time - the thorn you miss -probably the one that you will get a jab from :)

21.01.2022 Khadrawy date Harvest has just started - $20kg + postage for 1st grade - 2nd grade(cooking dates) $10kg + postage - please msg me for ordering

21.01.2022 Started harvesting decent amounts of Medjools today - out of all varieties I have on the farm, they have held up the best with the rain events we have had this year.

19.01.2022 Still at least 4 weeks from start of season - wish all my Barhee was like the following photos - this what they should all be like if a successful pollination - but alas maybe 1% like this other bunches still ordinary

18.01.2022 Thanks for all those that like my page - reached that 1000 mark cheers Steve Brauer

18.01.2022 Besides harvesting the dates - being a 1 man show always plenty to do - Have some Fard males that have been needing a prune - not the easiest palm to work with - throw out many arial off shoots - those thorns as well nasty critters - had to remove one from my work boots

18.01.2022 To all customers - please be advised I have sold out of all 1st grade varieties of Dates - only stock left is 2nd Grade Khadrawy - still eat well but would class more in the cooking grade. Thanks to all that supported me in the 2020 harvest - fingers crossed 2021 harvest is better - cheers Steve Brauer

17.01.2022 Upcoming AGM of the Australian date Growers Association

17.01.2022 Got a few more Medjools this year - happy with how some of the palms are performing - this photo is from Medjool palm sourced as an offshoot from Ernabella (Pukatja lands in far North SA) - has good fruit set

15.01.2022 Still busy tying down date bunchs - following photos are from some of my Medjool palms tied down and bagged -New Years day

14.01.2022 Daughter wants to help Dad on the Farm - first time operating the cherry picker

13.01.2022 Had time yesterday to do spot of cleaning up in the orchard - slashing the weeds between rows of dates - Great to see some of the local wild life in the orchard - local goanna

12.01.2022 Hi all - that time of the year - Have started picking my Barhee - you can eat Barhee in the Balah, Khalal stage (fresh & crunchy stage) If you like to order msg me with your quantity required and your email & postal address - can do in parcel post 1kg, 3kg and 4.5kg - if interstate - use express post - SA customers mostly - regular post. - Due to Biosecurity - can not send to WA or Tasmania - From 23rd of March due to market price increase - Barhee is $30kg

12.01.2022 Getting close to that time of the year again - where we need to hold our AGM for the "Australian Date Growers Association" - this year with way things are worldwide - not possible to have a one on one AGM - need to use technology - at this stage looking at using Zoom conferencing software - if you are already a member a link will be sent to you to log in. If you like to be apart of the association we welcome your input - main aim of the association is to share knowledge to benefit all - if interested register your interest at https://www.adga.org.au/become-a-member/

10.01.2022 My experiment with Dragon Fruit moving along nicely - Cutting is putting out growth

10.01.2022 Storing dates - have been asked this a few times - Dates are best stored in the refrigerator in an air tight container to help them retain moisture. They can be stored up to 6 months in the refrigerator, but may lose moisture the longer they sit. Large quantities of dates can also be frozen for up to one year. They are full of sugar and basically you can eat straight from the freezer

10.01.2022 Been a busy week - had customer that wanted some mature date palms - wanted in the ground before Christmas - not the ideal time to remove plant - fingers crossed they dont get to much setback

09.01.2022 Weather this year not been kind to Date harvest - by now would have normally finished all my Date harvest - come in cold early - still fruit finishing off - have to give a hand - once a week go and harvest what fruit is turning - photo is some of todays Medjool pick ready for dehydrator to finish completely

08.01.2022 Thought time I let you all know how my Dragon fruit going - found out that best growing period for Dragon fruit is between mid 20 celcius and low 30s - The Dragon fruit have been growing - now I deciding if I remove the off shoots and concentrate on strongest - ill re-pot the cuttings for planting next year - give them time to establish roots

08.01.2022 News for this week :) As the "Australian Date growers Association Chair" had radio interview with our local ABC Radio reporter - following is a website link https://www.abc.net.au//date-growers-national-bod/12439750

08.01.2022 Young Medjool palms need tidying up - for the age of the trees (3 years) got some reasonable fruit set - another reason to tidy up the palms - want to be able to get to the fruit to bag - will look at taking some of the off shoots(pups) off in due course

06.01.2022 That time of the year - still flatout on cleaning up eg. pruning and dethorning - flower has come early this year - usually would be a bit hesitant to pollinate - but cant afford to just cut off flowers and hope they have a later flush - temperature has been last week or so - from high teens to mid 20's - on this palm pollinated 7 flowers - more coming thru - fingers crossed for good fruit set

06.01.2022 Following is photo of Khadrawy (eaten in the semi dried stage) starting to turn yellow - still a month away at least before we have fruit to harvest on this variety - everything looking good

06.01.2022 Yesterday while checking irrigation - good to see unpollinated fruit drop in the Barhee - 2nd photo shows fruit left after drop - not ideal amount but what there is will be a lot easier to harvest - and will size up better

05.01.2022 The following photos are from a offshoot - that originated from a palm at our pump shed that must have been planted back in the early 1900s from seed - has a unique taste tho only a small/medium fruit - always sets well - to well - have to remove at least 50% of bunch to get to size - today finally got to tie down and bag

05.01.2022 Busy time at moment - this year flowers have come out early - more than half way thru pollinating - following is Barhee flowers pollinated yesterday

05.01.2022 In the shade today around 42 celcius - this morning got Barhee finished tied/bagged - onto the Khadrawy always good fruit set - need to thin out a bit - chopped approx 3rd of the bunch from centre

04.01.2022 Hope you all had/having a Merry Christmas and look forward to a prosperous New Year

04.01.2022 Harvest getting closer - in the mean time always something to do - at moment I am chopping out flowers that came thru over summer period - this is not normal - they have reasonable pollination - naturally. Hard to workout - we have trouble getting good consistent fruit set in Spring - In February dont do any hand pollinating and we get reasonable fruit set.

04.01.2022 Last week or so we have had 40+ celcius days regularly - today think 38 celcius - but probably hotter - and next 3 or 4 days 40+ again. Today had first pick of our apricots - fruit is good size for drying - tho bit of burnt fruit outside and inside (stone burn) - fingers crossed the apricots dry out in good condition

02.01.2022 Pollination just about finished for the season - started tying down some of the bunches today of the Barhee - while stalk is still supple (able to bend) dont want to be losing good fruit bunches - bit of an art in bending down and tying to fronds. Fruit set on the few trees looks promising - counts range from 10 to 20 per strand - problem is no consistency - go to next palm and might have 2 or 3 fruit set on a strand or less. One thing coming out of confirming fruit set - have reasonable set in early September onwards on some palms - so the idea of manipulating the palms to flower later when warmer is a fallacy - when you get temperatures of 25 in late August - if flower is out it is ready to pollinate. Again just wish I could get consistency across the orchard - dare say I will be painting red (bad set) again on lot of my palms.

02.01.2022 Daughter put her name down to raise money for school - can you help

02.01.2022 One good thing that came out of the bad weather season we have had here in SA is the Medjool dates have stood up to the rain events - no damage (ie splitting) - only issue this year has come in colder than usual - need to finish off the drying process in-house

01.01.2022 Been a long season this year - Saturday cleaned up the last of the Medjool Harvest - now can concentrate on cleanup ready for pollination

01.01.2022 Hasnt been a good start to the season - since January had 3 rain events come thru - not isolated showers - been good soaking rains - which is good for most - but for fruit coming into harvest its not the best situation - still picking the Barhee - but at this stage getting harder to find clean fruit - If you still wanting Barhee - happy to supply second grade (rain damaged fruit for $15kg - if you are determined for first grade fruit that is $30kg - sorry about photo quality my samsung has had it :)