A harvest begins next month on kiwifruit orchards but not for exceptionally early fruit - it's flowers which will be picked.
Millions of male kiwifruit flowers will be plucked by hand for the precious golden pollen they contain and Te Puna company PollenPlus alone expected to harvest over five tonne of flowers per day using a team of up to 350 pickers.
▲Picking kiwifruit flowers
"Kiwifruit flowers are very light so five tonne represents a lot of flowers. However, the yield of pollen is not high. For every 100kg of flowers picked we extract around 1kg of pollen through our mills," said Allister Holmes, operation manager for PollenPlus, part of the PlusGroup.
▲ Kiwi male and female flowers
猕猴桃园将于下个月开始采摘，但采摘的不是早熟的果实，而是花朵。
数百万朵猕猴桃雄花将被手工采摘，以提取其中珍贵的金色花粉，Te Puna 公司 PollenPlus 预计每天将采摘超过 5 吨的花朵，采摘团队多达 350 名。
“猕猴桃花很轻，所以 5 吨已经很多了。然而，花粉的产量并不高。每采摘 100 公斤花朵，我们通过磨坊提取约 1 公斤花粉，”PlusGroup 旗下 PollenPlus 运营经理 Allister Holmes 说道。
▲Picking kiwifruit flowers
Male flowers are picked at what is described the 'popcorn' stage, when they are not quite open, but light and fluffy. Placed into kiwifruit picking bags, the flowers are transferred to net onion bags and trucked to the PollenPlus mills, this season housed in the company's brand new complex in Newnham Rd, Te Puna.
雄花在所谓的“爆米花”阶段被采摘，此时雄花尚未完全开放，但又轻又蓬松。雄花被放入猕猴桃采摘袋，然后被转移到网状洋葱袋中，再用卡车运到 PollenPlus 工厂，该工厂本季位于该公司位于蒂普纳 Newnham 路的全新大楼内。
▲Picking kiwifruit flowers
During the milling process, the kiwipollen is dried and separated from the anthers of the flowers before being weighed, batched, tested for viability and frozen.
The pollen comes from the company's 8ha orchard which grows only Chieftain male kiwifruit (the largest all male kiwifruit orchard in the world), and from other orchards it owns, plus from individual growers who sell pollen to the group.
在碾磨过程中，花粉被干燥并从花药中分离出来，然后称重、分批、测试活力并冷冻。
花粉来自该公司占地 8 公顷的果园，该果园只种植酋长雄性猕猴桃（世界上最大的全雄性猕猴桃果园），以及该公司拥有的其他果园，以及向该集团出售花粉的个体种植者。
▲the kiwipollen is dried and separated
"We are keen to hear from anyone who wants to sell us male flowers," said Allister, who predicts there may be a shortage of pollen this season.
Growers who sell male flowers aren't compromising their on-orchard pollination as flower harvest stops the day before beehives arrive.
“我们热切希望听到任何想向我们出售雄花的人的声音，”阿利斯特说，他预测本季花粉可能会短缺。出售雄花的种植者不会损害果园授粉，因为花朵采摘在蜂箱到达的前一天就停止了。
▲Bees pollinate kiwifruit
"A number of growers off-set the cost of our pollination services by supplying us with flowers."
Correctly stored, pollen remains viable for a very long time. "Viable pollen thousands of years old has been found in glaciers, but we keep ours for only a year," said Allister.
Pollen harvested last spring is stored in freezers for use in early flowering orchards, mainly in Northland and the Hawkes Bay, and is superseded by the new season's pollen as soon as it's available.
▲猕猴桃花粉放入冰箱低温保存
“许多种植者通过向我们提供鲜花来抵消授粉服务的成本。”
正确储存后，花粉可以保持活力很长时间。“在冰川中发现了数千年前的可行花粉，但我们只保存了一年，”阿利斯特说。去年春天收获的花粉储存在冰箱中，供早花果园使用，主要在北地和霍克湾，新季节的花粉一到就会被取代。
▲Large packaged product kiwi pollen
Most of the pollen is applied to female flowers in orchards from quad bikes fitted with PollenPlus's unique QuadDuster equipment which delivers a digitally metered supply of pollen across the kiwifruit canopy, using high performance air fans and CAD-designed volutes.
"This system is promoted by PollenPlus and exclusively used by us and its design offers significant advantages for growers," said Allister.
大部分花粉都是通过四轮摩托车施用于果园中的雌花，这些摩托车配备了 PollenPlus 独特的 QuadDuster 设备，该设备使用高性能风扇和 CAD 设计的蜗壳，将数字计量的花粉供应输送到整个猕猴桃树冠上。
“该系统由 PollenPlus 推广并由我们独家使用，其设计为种植者提供了显著的优势，”Allister 说。
▲Electric kiwi pollen pollination equipment that has been widely used in recent years
"One of the exciting things about working for the PlusGroup is the emphasis put on innovation and the QuadDusters are a perfect example of that," said Allister, who joined the company two years ago.
“在 PlusGroup 工作最令人兴奋的事情之一就是重视创新，而 QuadDusters 就是一个完美的例子，”两年前加入该公司的 Allister 说道。
▲猕猴桃开花授粉
Massey PhD student Alistair Scarfe, who is working on a robotic kiwifruit picker in a project partly funded by the PlusGroup, developed the QuadDusters in July last year and by November, 15 units were working successfully in orchards.
Massey 的博士生 Alistair Scarfe 正在研究一款机器人猕猴桃采摘机，该项目由 PlusGroup 部分资助。他于去年 7 月开发了 QuadDusters，到 11 月，已有 15 台机器在果园中成功运行。
▲Electric kiwi pollen pollination equipment that has been widely used in recent years
This season 20 bikes, each fitted with large volutes with electric fans attached to the sides of the quad bike, will be dispensing pollen on orchards in Northland, Waikato, Opotiki, Gisborne, throughout the Bay of Plenty and the Hawkes Bay.
Pollen is fed into the system through an auger and the fans softly blow the pollen-laden air into the flowering canopy above.
花粉通过螺旋钻送入系统，风扇将载有花粉的空气轻轻吹入上方的花冠层。
▲猕猴桃花粉冷藏保存运输Kiwi pollen refrigerated storage and transportation
The QuadDuster bikes have digital speed control units to ensure uniform and consistent application of pollen. The fleet has GPS transponders allowing pollen application to be monitored remotely and GPS maps can be supplied to clients showing pollen application history.
PollenPlus has formed an exclusive relationship with long established horticultural consultancy and laboratory testing company AgFirst which is the licensed applicator of the pollen using the QuadDuster equipment fitted to their existing fleet of four wheel motor bikes.
四轮喷洒机配有数字速度控制装置，可确保均匀一致地喷洒花粉。车队配有 GPS 转发器，可远程监控喷洒花粉的情况，并可向客户提供显示喷洒花粉历史的 GPS 地图。
PollenPlus 与历史悠久的园艺咨询和实验室测试公司 AgFirst 建立了独家合作关系，AgFirst 是授权喷洒花粉的供应商，使用安装在其现有四轮摩托车车队上的 QuadDuster 设备喷洒花粉。
▲Harvest Sunshine Golden Fruit Kiwi Orchard
"It made sense to form this alliance as AgFirst already had the quadbikes which its staff use when taking fruit samples from orchards to test for maturity. The cost for PollenPlus to buy its own fleet of vehicles would be significant and only add to the expense of pollination for growers," said Allister.
“建立这个联盟是有意义的，因为 AgFirst 已经拥有四轮摩托车，其员工会使用这些摩托车从果园采集水果样本来测试成熟度。PollenPlus 购买自己的车队的成本将非常高，而且只会增加种植者的授粉费用，”Allister 说。
▲猕猴桃蜜蜂授粉
The aim is not to replace bees in orchards, but rather enhance their work and any excess pollen which settles on the kiwifruit flowers after the QuadDusters pass through can be further distributed by bees.
目的不是取代果园中的蜜蜂，而是增强它们的工作能力，并且在 QuadDusters 经过后，任何落在猕猴桃花朵上的多余花粉都可以由蜜蜂进一步传播。
▲Bee pollination
"Research by Dr Mark Goodwin of Plant & Food Research, Ruakura has shown the use of both bees and supplementary pollen in orchards significantly enhances pollination," said Allister.
It's that research, plus a recognition by growers of green Hayward kiwifruit in particular, of the impact of successful pollination on their returns, which he believes has increased demands for the company's services this year.
"In the early days of the kiwifruit industry, producing 7,000 to 8,000 trays a hectare was the aim but now growers want 14,000 trays per hectare and pollination is one of the ways to achieve that."
▲Bees pollinate kiwifruit
“Ruakura 植物与食品研究中心的 Mark Goodwin 博士的研究表明，在果园中使用蜜蜂和补充花粉可显著提高授粉效果，”Allister 说道。
正是这项研究，加上绿海沃德猕猴桃种植者对成功授粉对其收益的影响的认可，他认为今年对该公司服务的需求有所增加。
“在猕猴桃产业发展的早期，每公顷生产 7,000 到 8,000 托盘是目标，但现在种植者希望每公顷生产 14,000 托盘，而授粉是实现这一目标的方法之一。”
▲Winter pruning of kiwifruit orchard
Supplementary pollination by artificial means is ideal for orchards where male flowering is inadequate; areas or blocks where pollination maybe compromised because of environmental factors; low bee activity in the orchard because of poor weather conditions or competition from other flower sources or where a general top-up of pollen to maximize pollination is required.
As well as supplying the New Zealand market, PollenPlus exports pollen to Japan where there is strong demand for pollen from male Zespri Gold flowers.
Pollen also goes to Australia, China, Italy and some to South America. "However, our main focus and priority is always our NZ clients," said Allister.
▲刚刚采摘回来的猕猴桃雄花
对于雄花不足的果园、授粉可能因环境因素而受到影响的地区或街区、由于恶劣天气条件或其他花源的竞争而导致果园中蜜蜂活动较少的地区，或者需要补充花粉以最大程度地进行授粉的地区，人工辅助授粉是理想的选择。
除了供应新西兰市场外，PollenPlus 还向日本出口花粉，日本对 Zespri Gold 雄花的花粉需求旺盛。
花粉还销往澳大利亚、中国、意大利和南美。“然而，我们的主要关注点和优先事项始终是新西兰客户，”Allister 说道。
▲Bohong Kiwi Pollen Company is the largest pollen supplier in China, planting 1200 acres of high-altitude kiwifruit. The kiwifruit pollen project is the largest single area macaque peach blossom pollen garden in China, producing 400 kilograms of pollen during the high-yield period, providing high-quality, high ploidy, and high activity kiwifruit pollen. Contact WeChat 18030405084
