THE Fruit Salad Tree company has perfected the art of growing up to six different fruits on one tree and this week they’re at the AqQuip in Gunnedah.
Kerry West and her husband started the company in the Tablelands, and moved to Rollands Plains near Wauchope three years ago.
“My husband learned everything out of books. The trees are a great space-saving idea,” she said.
When you buy a fruit salad tree, the fruit ripen at different times, so it can spread over all summer, or in the case of citrus all year.
The business has grown slowly, and the company don’t supply nurseries because there’s a special care point about balancing the trees.
All the instructions come with the trees, which are sold online all around Australia and in Tasmania.
“My four children help graft the trees and my son, Scott works in the business. We love Rollands Plains. It’s a very community-minded area,” said Kerry.
“We have a new website, www.fruitsaladtree.com where it’s easier for people to choose what they want.”
The most popular tree is the stone fruit tree with varieties that suit warm and cold climates.
There are white and yellow peaches, blood plums, yellow plums, apricots, peachcots (a cross between a peach and an apricot.
The second most popular tree is the citrus one. You can have lemon, winter and summer orange, different types of mandarin, lime, pomelo, ruby grapefruit, tangelo and lemonade.
The third one is the apple tree with different types of apple on it. Fruit Salad Trees can be grown in a pot or in the ground, in a balcony or backyard and are suitable for all climates.
Letitia Fitzpatrick
Worked as a journalist and assistant producer for BBC news and current affairs in the UK, Ulster Television, Q Radio and the Irish News in Northern Ireland. Moved to Australia and joined Fairfax Media in 2016. Won a Rotary Paul Harris Fellowship award in 2018 for reporting the Pappinbarra bushfires and the subsequent Rotary appeal which raised $30,000.
Worked as a journalist and assistant producer for BBC news and current affairs in the UK, Ulster Television, Q Radio and the Irish News in Northern Ireland. Moved to Australia and joined Fairfax Media in 2016. Won a Rotary Paul Harris Fellowship award in 2018 for reporting the Pappinbarra bushfires and the subsequent Rotary appeal which raised $30,000.
