This year’s September may turn out rather good for gardening and fruit harvest, predicts Latvian Rural Advisory and Training Centre’s senior gardening specialist Maris Narvils.
He says there are currently no concerns for any sudden weather changes to impact fruit growers in the coming weeks. September may be rather beneficial to gardening work and fruit harvest.
“Nevertheless, we expect fruit harvest to come a couple of weeks later than usual. We hope autumn will not come too soon and preparations of winter crops will not be delayed. Precipitation in Latvia is unequal – there are gardens in which moisture is excessive and some gardens in which moisture is insufficient. The latter is especially true for southern parts of Kurzeme,” Narvils says.
Narvils also admits that this year’s plum harvest has been worse this year than the year before.
“Speaking of plums, there are not many. Harvest decline will be dramatic and there is no room to speak of supply. Fruit growers are happy to see any plums at this point,” he says.
The same can be said about home-grown plums.
He says Caucasus plums will yield moderate harvest this year. Pear harvest is not expected to be good either. Autumn raspberries harvest promises to be good.
He also says there will be fewer apples than last year. Still, the situation differs from region to region, as there are areas in which abundant apple harvests are expected.
“I personally expect good harvests from gardens in southern Kurzeme this year. I know that elsewhere in Kurzeme and Zemgale harvests are not expected to be particularly good. Few problems are noted in Vidzeme and Latgale. This is largely because blooming there had begun later than expected and flowers did not suffer much from the cold,” he says.
According to Narvils, decreased fruit harvests are mainly associated with climate conditions.
“Late harvest and damage caused by cold, which affects harvests rather dramatically, came about because of climate conditions. Because of that it is not recommended to use only one type of fruit – it is better to use a variety of different fruit, because different types react to weather changes differently,” said Narvils.
Gardening Institute’s head researcher Mara Skrivele says different fruit gardens will have different situations. Some gardens in Latgale are expected to have better harvests than last year.
Skrivele also admits that harvests were negatively impacted by weather in spring, as well as insufficient care from gardeners. (BNN/Business World Magazine)