Hargreaves Plants recently welcomed a group of UK growers to a commercial plantation of Erika raspberry at Melvyn Newman’s Newma Fruit Farms Ltd. The primocane variety is exclusive to Hargreaves Plants and is being widely grown by some 50 producers in Spain, France, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Italy and Germany as well as the UK since its launch in 2007.
Hargreaves company director, Jamie Petchell, said: “We had a very high turn out on the day to see the Erika in production. The yield and flavour advantages of the variety were plain to see for all who came. The variety is already well established in various parts of southern Europe and UK plantings in 2010 will significantly increase the availability of fruit for next summer/autumn; so much so that we are already reviewing upwards our propagation plans for spring 2010.”
The visit was organised for September 22 when production was at its peak. Petchell said: “Erika starts cropping in early August and runs through to the end of October. Our aim was to showcase the variety at Newma Fruit Farms and it had the desired effect with a lot of growers showing interest.”
Erika is characterised by large, conical orange-red berries and high yields - some 20-30 per cent more fruit per hectare compared to Polka.
The variety is accepted by all the UK’s major multiples and which market fruit from Spain as well as UK production.
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