Meet the Staples

In an orchard hugging the slopes of Main Ridge, Glenn Staples and his son Nick grow 25,000 apple trees.

Strung up on trellises and planted just over a metre apart the trees are lined up in rows, the apples hanging like red, green and yellow baubles against the deep green foliage.

Some have old fashioned favourites like Granny Smith others are brand new super sweet and aromatic apples like Kanji.

Apples are not new to the Staples.

Nick is the 5^th generation of the family to be growing fruit on the Peninsula. His great, great grandparents were one of the founding orcharding families in Red Hill, back when the district first opened up to agriculture in the late 1800s.

Glenn’s family bought this 16ha slice of rich, deep soil on the banks of Main Creek back in the 1950s. Since Glenn took over from his parents, he has moved production from old fashioned large apple trees that needed a ladder to be picked, to super compact trees growing on a dwarf stock. This means the trees grow to around just 2.5 metres and can be picked, pruned and managed with ease.

The orchard itself is 12 ha and is shielded from winds by large hedgerows. This is just one layer of protection used by Glenn and Nick. The entire orchard is covered in netting. Originally this was to protect the fruit from hail damage, but in recent years flocks of parakeets, escaping drought and fire from other parts of the country, have made the Peninsula home. These birds love fruit and so now the Staples entirely surround the orchard with netting to guard the fruit against wasteful damage.

“We also have to manage how much sunlight hits the fruit,” adds Glenn. Most of their apples are sent to wholesale market and bought up by supermarkets who have very high standards when it comes to ripeness and colouration. “We spray the lighter coloured fruit with a natural sunscreen – which is bentonite, a natural clay,” he says. “We also lay down reflective matts under the trees to reflect light back into the fruit shaded by the canopy to get even ripening.”.

The Staples have also invested in state-of-the-art rain covers to protect the cherry orchard. The Staples’ cherries are known for their fine skins, deep red flesh and wonderfully intense aromatic flavour. The cherries are reserved for the Staples’ army of faithful regular customers who buy direct during season, from the farm gate, discretely nestled into the windbreak hedging. Too much moisture causes ripe cherries to swell and split rendering them worthless, hence the covers. “I also grow peaches, plums and sunflowers to add some variety to the stall,” says Glenn with a warm smile. Nick pipes in adding, “and mum grows some gladioli to brighten it up!”

The farm gate was one way that the Staples diversified what they do on the farm. They saw tourism developing on the Peninsula and responded. Glenn and Nick have also quietly adopted integrated pest managing, controlling apple mite numbers by encouraging predator insects. “We let the grass grow long between the rows because the predator species also like to feed on the grass pollen,” says Glenn.

“Our family have been here for a long time,” he adds, looking to his son Nick. “And we plan on continuing that tradition for generations to come.”