Bad news in store for NQ mango fans
MANGO grower Henry Petersen says locals should prepare for a quick mango season and high lychee prices after unseasonal rain and heat in October knocked a lot of North Queensland crops around.
Based in Ayr, Mr Petersen has been picking backyard mango trees and selling the crop by the roadside for over 40 years.
“This is my first day selling in Charters Towers for this season and we’re nearly sold out,” Mr Petersen said.
“It’s the best first season sale I’ve ever seen for this town. And that’s because no one’s backyard trees have got mangoes.”
Mr Petersen said backyard trees across Townsville, Charters Towers and Ingham have struggled to fruit.
“I know a grower in Majors Creek who’s been doing it seven years and he’s got nothing this season,” he said.
“Bowen is patchy and Bundaberg isn’t good.”
But there is some hope - both the Burdekin and Mareeba are on track for a bumper crop.
“I can only tell you what I’m hearing from the growers. Burdekin and Mareeba are due to have one of the biggest crops they’ve ever had but it will be a short season,” Mr Petersen said.
“Everything will need to be picked within three weeks. Guess who told me this? The packaging guy who sells the cardboard boxes to the growers.”
Mr Petersen predicts all local mangoes will be off the trees by the middle of December.
Lychees are in a worse spot.
“That rain and heat came at the wrong time for the lychees. There aren’t many around, so expect to pay a lot of them,” he said.
Mr Petersen plys his trade by picking backyard trees and paying the homeowners a finders fee.
“The Burdekin has a big crop of backyard trees. We’ll go in a pick them, and it’s all organic because it’s someone’s garden. We come across a lot of green ants, bees and paper wasps. The paper wasps are the worst because they’ll chase you 200 metres and you have to run,” he said.
“I employ two pickers and we pick mangoes for four hours a day, Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays. So by the time people get them, the mangoes were picked five days ago.”
Mr Petersen said it is essentially mangoes are picked green and left to ripen off the tree.
“If f you let l them th ripen i on the tree the flying foxes and possums will get to them. A mango will ripen within ten days, so we sell them at five days old and they only need another five days,” he said.
“Everyone is coming up to us wanting ripe mangoes. Well there are no ripe mangoes. The quickest way to ripen a mango is to put them in the back seat of your car, on the floor. They’ll be ripe in two or three days.”