People regularly tell us they're are the best oranges they've ever eaten, so don't miss out! This should answer your questions. The first 260 trees were planted on the property --164 acres—by the Daley family in 1907.In 1914 they were generating 100 pounds per acre for the fruit. You could buy a nice house in Sydney for 2.500 pounds, so they are a lot cheaper today than they were 100 yrs ago. Th
e Dittons purchased the farm in 1918.They had moved down from the Tamworth area by ox cart. The 3 sons helped their father expand the orchards, felling the trees and milling the timber on site. The Gosford and Wyong Times of March 1931 said that 4 Ditton family members played for the Dooralong cricket team. Les Ditton was a good cricketer and tennis player. He caught Sir Donald Bradman on the boundary of the Dooralong oval when Sir Donald toured the valleys with his team to raise money for charity. Les Ditton bought the farm from his parents. In 1953 he won a state wide competition for the best orchards between the ages of 18-29 yrs. In 1954 the Gosford Times had an article about the 4 million gallon dam being built in Dooralong by Les Ditton. This dam is still the main source of irrigation water. It is located 200m behind the trees to the west. The farm was purchased by the Harris family 30 yrs ago. It then numbered 7000 thousand trees on 30 acres consisting mainly of navel and Valencia oranges but also lemons and grapefruit. At that stage there was a packing shed at the end of Dittons Rd. The boxes of oranges were sent to the Sydney markets. The Dooralong valley had always been a citrus and dairy area but the citrus industry was decimated when the juicers started importing citrus pulp from Brazil. This is still the case today, the cheap juice available at supermarkets is reconstituted juice from Brazil. There is of course Australian juice at a slightly higher price that tastes much better. The small dairies in the valley also closed over time. The valley properties were being purchased by hobby farmers and horse lovers and this is still the case. Jack and Kay Schlachter bought the 164 acres in 2011 and subdivided it into 3 properties keeping most of the orchards which are now the last in the valley. Although not knowing anything about horticulture Jack has managed to keep most of the trees alive. Some of the trees are thought to be 100yrs old and are succumbing to old age though still producing fruit. The trees are pruned immediately after harvest and it’s a big job. We have used WOOFERS (willing workers on organic farms) in the past . The trees are fertilized in August and February. Lime is spread annually. The weeds are sprayed with roundup. The trees and fruit are not sprayed at all. The trees are attacked by the New Zealand Lemon Borer (oemona herta) which bore into the branches. The branch dies and eventually so will the tree. The only control is to cut off the effected branch and to kill the borer. This is very time consuming. All this results in the fabulous oranges that you enjoy picking and eating or juicing. At first the oranges were sent to the juicers at Kulnura but this required help with the picking and was not profitable. 7 years ago we started to sell bags of oranges from 2 roadside locations with an honesty box and this proved to be very popular. In 2017 we started the ‘Pick Your Own’ and that too has become more and more popular to the extent that we no longer sell from the roadside stalls. The fruit sweetens at different times from year to year so we do not have a predictable opening of the season. Always refer to our page—pick your own oranges Dooralong---for opening and closing times.
