Cultivation and Agronomy. Bronzewing Farm ® grows select cultivars of Tasmanian Mountain Pepper (Tasmannia lanceolata). Most Tasmanian Mountain Pepper is taken from the Tasmanian bush and consequently there is only a little information on the cultivation of the peppers (eg. Ryder, M., Latham, Y. & Hawke, B. 2008. Cultivation and Harvest Quality of Native Food Crops, RIRDC Publication No 08/019).

There are also some dreadful reports that showcase extremely poor science, so be careful in the information you rely on, eg. Jindivick 2018.

Cultivation takes time, time, and more time. The plants are very slow growing... At full production we will have 5,000 females bushes producing around 7,500 kg of pepperberries. We have found the following things essential: Drip irrigation, the correct pH and nutrient regime, weed matting and bird netting prior to harvest time. Our planting layout maximises sun exposure to each plant, and we plant at a ratio of 10 females:1 male.

Cuttings from select cultivars are made in May-June and they undergo two growth spurts in our greenhouses. They are usually ready for planting after 18-24 months. First harvest is typically around 3-5 years after planting. When do the plants start producing Pepperberries? Our experience is that the plants are at ‘regular production’ by 8 years old. Even though our plants are clonal there are differences in when the plants start to yield and the quantity of berries produced, but by 7 years, around 95% of all plants are producing berries.

What pollinates Tasmanian Mountain Pepper? This is still an ‘open’ question. It is certainly not honey bees (see our video: “Bad Bees”). A simple study was undertaken at the University of Tasmania which looked at what insects, etc, visited the flowers but there was no extension of that study to look at yields. Another study suggested that wind pollination was not involved as the pollen was deemed too heavy, however, we get winds up to 80 kph and we have seen pollen on the leaves of adjacent female plants. The somewhat complicated graph shown was a ‘snapshot’ of flowering in mid-September 2022. It shows two things quite clearly: Firstly that the three ‘acr’ male cultivars flower much later than the BwF2 cultivar, and secondly, that the female BwF1 has almost finished flowering by the time BwF2 starts. So, how is Tasmanian Mountain Pepper fertilised? Anyone want to do a Ph.D.?

How far can female plants be from pollen producing male plants? Our plantings have tried to answer this question by looking at the distance individual females are from their nearest male and recording each plants’ harvest yield. The graphs below suggest that there is little correlation (which is good news). Note that 2021 was an “on year” and 2022 was an “off year” with considerably reduced yields (which is typical of alternate bearing crops).