MIApple Farm
THIS NEW TECHNICAL PAGE DESCRIBES METHODS WE USE IN GROWING OUR ORCHARD TREES
Preparation for planting
We start our preparation for planting at the end of summer. There have
been so many trees to plant that hand dug holes are out of the
question. During autumn
the ground is hard enough to bring in a back-hoe to do the work.
We dig holes at least 2ft 6inches (750mm) deep and about the same wide.
The main idea is to loosen the soil for the young tree roots to grow
into and to
make sure there are no large rocks in the way of the roots.
Apple trees love calcium so we often throw old sheep bones before backfilling ready for planting.
Planting
We usually plant in early winter (July for us) when the young trees are
still dormant. The potting mix we use to grow the young grafted trees
is low in
nutrients so we usually plant the trees together with the potting mix
in a medium of mushroom compost and sandy soil and we add a tablespoon
full of
slow release fertiliser to the top of the soil after planting. Taking
care not to have any fertiliser in direct contact with the young roots.
If planting bare root trees, the roots are likely to have been damaged
or trimmed before planting and it is wise to reduce the top growth by
pruning the tree
after planting so that the root system can cope with supply of the nutrients needed by the leaves and branches.
Grafting.
In July (early winter
when the trees are dormant) we take scions (young growth only from the
last season) from the donor trees, that are carefully labelled
and stored in the refrigerator ready for grafting onto rootstocks in August and September.
I recent years the rootstocks have not dropped their leaves until
August and grafting has had to wait until the rootstocks are truly
dormant.
We usually graft using the whip and tongue method and try to match the
thickness of the scion with that of the rootstock to get the best
grafting results.
If the scion to be grafted is very thin only one side of the cambium
tissue can be matched and the likihood of the graft taking is
reduced.
The rootstock needs to have a healthy moisture content for the graft to take.
We recently used pear rootstocks that had not been well watered before
grafting - the grafts all failed but the rootstocks lived on with new
leaves. We
have kept the rootstocks and will try grafting onto them again next season.
Pruning.
We prune our trees while they are still dormant in mid-winter and try
to develop the traditional wine glass shape that makes the tree open to
sunlight.
We cut out any dead or diseased wood and remove it from the orchard. If
large branches are removed we use a pruning paint to minimise fungal
growth and rot.
Most of our tree scions have come from other orchards where there is a
risk of bringing in diseases like mosaic virus. You don't know about
the disease
until the tree has grown leaves. If a diseased branch is discovered we
remove the infected branch and remove the cutting from the orchard.
The worst infected tree found so far was a pink lady bought as a bare
root tree from one of the large hardware stores - we have learned not
to trust
mass produced trees grown for the general suburban market.
While pruning we carry around a bottle of disinfectant ( we use ti tree
oil mixed with water) and disinfect our secateurs between each tree
pruned.
Spraying with fungicide.
In early spring when the buds have started to swell but before flowering we spray all our trees with Bordeaux mixture fungicide.
We mix a cup of copper sulphate in one bucket of water and two cups of
builders lime in another bucket and leave them soaking over night.
The next morning we mix the two in a spray bucket taking care not to
put too much sediment in the spray mixture which now turns sky blue in
colour.
We still use Dad's old stirrup pump which he used in his orchard 60 years ago to spray the trees with bordeaux mixture.
The use of Bordeaux mixture is compatible with organic horticultural practices.
Coping with Birds
The white cockatoos and parrots are a destructive lot. If you plant a
young tree that has side branches they will sit on the side branch and
chew off
the top of the tree. If the side branches a pruned off in the first
year the birds have nothing to stand on during destructive activity.
For the same reason I pluck the apples off young trees that are not
netted. If you don't the parrots chew the branches until the apple with
branch drops
then they eat the fallen apple on the ground and leave the branch behind.
Throwing a net over a fruiting tree.does not work either. The birds
chew the branches through the net until the net drops to the next
apple for them to
devour.
When we net we make a frame of four upright sticks and a polypipe bow
bent over between two of the sticks. The frame keeps the net away and
above the branches and limits the damage done to the trees by birds trying to get to the fruit.
Just the same it is necessary to prune the trees after the nets and
fruit has been removed because many of the top branches will have been
chewed.
Choice of Netting.
We buy white netting 4 by 4 metres square for a small trees and a 25 metre length cut into 6 metre lengths for larger trees.
Once placed over the trees the nets are weighed down with rocks and gaps on the sides are laced together with haybale twine.
Black netting cannot be easily seen by the birds and they can entangle themselves if they fly into a black net.
At night kangaroos and foxes don't see the nets either and will rip a net off a tree while escaping from an entanglement.
The best but most expensive method of netting is to net the whole orchard using arial wires and posts.
Irrigation.
Young trees will need irrigation through the summer to keep them alive until their root systems have matured.
We irrigate using a drip system and give each young tree about 50
litres of drip water each week through the summer. - We mulch our trees
with
straw during summer as well.
Our soil is deficient in calcuim and when we irrigated with dam water
two years ago many of the apple fruits developed brown rot - the apples
developed a big brown bruise which indicates calcium deficiency.
Last year we watered with our bore water which is rich in calcium salts and the apples produced were beautiful.