Strong winds over the weekend also felled large trees across the region. Photo: Supplied
Orchards around the Bay of Plenty have been hammered by strong winds, just as the avocado harvest gets underway.
Growers around the Bay and Coromandel have been busy clearing damage left by strong winds, which hit the region over the weekend.
Wayne Heays, of The Avocado Place, said it was the "worst wind" he'd experienced in his 15 years on the orchard near Waihi.
He was woken by the strong winds during the night, which prompted him to head out and secure things as best he could.
"It was just shaking the heck out of the house."
While the house fared alright, Heays said the 1.2-hectare fruit and nut orchard took a hammering, with a lot of avocados blown off the trees.
It also caused damage to several greenhouses, as well as the worm farm.
"I knew there would be a bit of damage, but it was quite a shock to see so much damage. Just everything just got absolutely belted."
Heays said he was busy cutting up and mulching trees, several of which had fallen onto his feijoa trees.
He and his wife had also been bagging up felled avocados to donate to local food pantries around the region.
Avocados blown off their trees, layer on the ground on an orchard near Waihi Beach. Photo: Supplied
Tony Bradley is the managing director of Aongatete Avocados, which runs avocados and kiwifruit across three blocks near Katikati.
He said the big gusts caused a lot of damage to all three hectares of avocados and came at a bad time, with one neighbour just about to start harvesting for the export market.
"We've lost a lot of fruit off our trees, particularly the exposed trees.
"There's been a lot of leaf loss, which is growing the engine, driving the fruit growth, so we'll stall for a wee while."
He said it had been a tough few years for avocado growers, and this season had been looking good.
One silver lining was that the losses might tighten supply and could improve prices for growers.
Now busy with clean up, Bradley said he often looked worse than what it was to begin with.
"When you can mow up, get rid of all the fruit on the ground, then it all starts to come better, you can still see a bit of fruit still left on the trees."
He said one out of every ten hectares of kiwifruit was also damaged, but Bradley said bud development slowed by the cold meant the fruit should recover.
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