The author and one of the scientists who developed the Tatura Trellis, Bas van den Ende, pictured inside an Open Tatura Trellis on Lenne's Orchard at Ardmona in 2005.
Five decades ago, the Tatura Trellis became well known in the horticultural world as a new orchard system, because it integrated all the horticultural factors involved in establishing and maintaining a planting of fruit trees.
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These factors included tree density and arrangement, tree shape, pruning and training methods needed to maintain the desired configuration, mechanical trimming and harvesting, soil management, irrigation and support system.
The aim was to develop a blueprint for the orchardist to follow throughout the life of a planting.
A major objective in developing the Tatura Trellis was early and high yields, ease of management, and the mechanisation of summer pruning and harvesting. The Tatura Trellis had to become an orchard system that fruit growers could relate to easily.
The concept, design and development of the Tatura Trellis were based on a study we did in 1971 and 1972, to determine how the quantitative distribution of dry weight of conventionally-planted peach trees changed between tree growth and cropping over the life-span of the trees and the physiological mechanisms that controlled it.
We linked this with the most common problems fruit growers in Australia faced — low yields per hectare, high cost of production and the inability to change an uneconomical crop to an economical one quickly.
To ensure quick adoption of the Tatura Trellis, tree architecture had to be suited to the existing orchard equipment, so orchardists did not have to change and invest in new expensive orchard equipment.
It also had to be adaptable to a wide range of temperate, sub-tropical and ultra-tropical fruit crops, nuts, grapevines and kiwifruit, and fit existing row spacings (for example, 5.5m).
Once the trees have filled their spaces and full cropping is reached, they are managed in such a way that only minimum amounts of photosynthates are used for growth and maintenance of shoots and roots, with most directed towards fruit production.
Armed with these facts, research began at the Tatura Research Institute that incorporated tree and soil management, irrigation, tree propagation and orchard mechanisation.
No single research could cover this whole field since a wide range of expertise was needed, as well as the great amount of work involved. It became a scientific multi-disciplinary team of researchers.
They emphasised basic research, which they then applied to the orchard. This team approach became known as Systems Research.
The researchers not only had to thoroughly understand the basic science concerned, they also worked with and assisted a group of pioneering orchardists who tried the Tatura systems on a commercial scale.
An early Tatura Trellis in the 1970s, invented at the Tatura Research Institute.
This was most important, because we knew that orchardists could convince other orchardists better than researchers, that the technologies and the science behind the systems, were sound and adaptable.
Out of these large research programs crystalised two unique blueprints for orchardists to follow — the Tatura Trellis and the Tatura System of Soil Management.
The Tatura Trellis and the Tatura System of Soil Management were R&D models which revolutionised fruit growing in the Goulburn Valley and beyond, and placed Tatura amongst world leaders in horticultural research.
Commercial adoption of the Tatura Trellis as a fully integrated system of orchard management were encouraged by publishing research findings in national and international journals, technical notes, conference and seminar presentations, field days and orchard demonstrations.
Research continued at Tatura and evolved into a unique canopy design, called the Open Tatura, that allowed more sunlight to penetrate through the canopies, the inclination of the canopies was made smaller, and the size of nursery trees was maintained to facilitate quick canopy growth which improved early production.
The Open Tatura system is not only known for its high productivity and efficiency of producing fruit, it has also withstood the anger of the gods of weather. A number of significant climatic events are proof, that the productivity and versatility of the Open Tatura (and Tatura Trellis) are unequalled.
This unique combination may be the solution to establish a sustainable and prosperous industry of exotic tropical fruits in cyclone-prone north Queensland, and perhaps other parts of tropical Australia and the world.
It took just a decade of research to design and develop the foundation of a fully integrated system of orchard management that revolutionised the fruit industry in the Goulburn Valley, and beyond, for which the word ‘Tatura’ is now synonymous.
In 1975, several Tatura Trellis plantings were established in the Ardmona and Leeton districts.
The first overseas Tatura Trellis planting of peach trees took place in 1975 at Rhodes Fruit Farms Ltd, Groot Drakenstein, South Africa.
All types of fruit are now growing on ‘Tatura’ in all major fruit growing countries including the United States (Hawaii), Uzbekistan, Union Island and Israel.
The Goulburn Valley has possibly the highest concentration of ‘Tatura’ plantings in the world followed by the US.
It was the most important and rewarding result of a combined research program that the Tatura Research Institute ever produced.
The relatively short time it took place has therefore been dubbed ’The Golden Era’ of the institute’s 80-year history.
