 Fall Orchard Activites at <<School>>
Fall is a great time to be in the orchard. Its a time for students to learn about the fascinating changes when trees begin to go dormant. Every day with the trees should be seen as an opportunity to teach and learn ! We are here to help.
 This email covers:
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Harvesting
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Finish the Harvest and the importanClean-up
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Disease Prevention
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Pruning
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Fertilization
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Watering
Orchard Lessons:
To start: Everybody should know how and why the leaves change color. That's when the biological fun begins! When the trees begin to go dormant they will set a little "terminal-bud" on the end of the shoots (instead of another set of little leaves). This is where the tree will begin growing in the Spring. Now you take it from there.....
1. Harvesting
If your orchard is older than 3 years then some of your trees are probably beginning to put out some fruit. Here are two simple tests to know when it is time to harvest the fruit. One, Observe. Is there fruit dropping or birds beginning to feed on that trees? These are good signs it might be time. Two, apply the taste test.
That's the super-abridged harvest lesson. WIth a few exceptions it will do the trick. As you orchard gets older it would be a good idea to go a little more in depth.
> More on Harvesting
2. Important "Clean-up"
When harvests have been completed, remove all fruit from the deciduous trees and rake up all leaves, fallen fruit, and weeds. Send all the orchard waste for composting. After clean-up is a good time to spread clean mulch or compost under the tree but away from the trunk.
> Learn more about post-harvest clean-up
3. Disease Prevention
These are, for the most part, general measures designed for the overall health of the Orchard. Occasionally additional measures may be useful for a specific pest that has gotten out of control. The objective is to have an overall strategy that maintains a
healthy ecosystem for plants, critters, and people,and encourages beneficials. The point of this newsletter is to help you keep your trees healthy and vigorous by good cultural methods, so they can resist disease with a minimum of additional intervention.
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Make sure the Team has done a good job on the "Clean-up"
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Check for any "mummies" left on the tree.
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Hose off the tree using a pressure-spray nozzle.
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Remove any residual leaves.
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**For Apple Trees; cut a 3 inch wide strip from a corrugated cardboard box, and wrap it tightly around the trunk (so the little tubes are vertical), just below the first branch (or about a foot and a half above the ground). Remove the band on December 1st, put it in the garbage pail (not for garden composting). This may sound random but its actually quite impotant. Click "More on Disease Control" for explanation.
NOTE: If there has been a severe infestation of any disease or soft-bodied insects, give us or your Master Gardeners a call an we will guide your action plan.
> More on Disease control
4. Pruning
There isn't all that much pruning to do right now in the orchard. There are a few exceptions:
1. Overly vigorous trees (i.e. trees that are getting too tall). Just after harvest is a great time to bring the height of these trees down by up to 25%.
2. Big Broken branches. It is better to get these now.
3. Removing Disease ~ If there a tree with disease this may be a good time to cut out diseased branches. Call us if you are not sure.
> More on Fall Pruning
5. Fertilization
Right after Harvest, You can give the trees another application of fertilizer similar to our Spring/Summer suggestions. Or, spread about 2 to 5 pounds of compost per tree in a 6" band around the drip line, under the mulch. (Keep away from the Trunk!)
If it's later in the fall, sit back....enjoy the view of the School Orchard, do nothing, think about the pleasures of Dormancy...... Lucky trees!
> More on fall fertilization
6. Water
Time to cut back on watering. There is not much evaporation or transpiration with the leaves gone, so water will just sit in the ground and drain off or percolate to the water table. We don't want the ground to dusty dry out, but fall and winter rains will probably be adequate except for the drier Areas. If it hasn't rained for a bit, (for young trees) check the root areas with your probe or fingers for adequate soil moisture.
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