Woodash + A Beneficial Mow
Lightly sprinkle lime or wood ash from the fire, over top of fallen leaves and roughly mow – as in with a weed eater, scythe or high setting on the mower. Leave the clippings where they fall as a wonderful nurture for your orchard floor.
Time to Mulch
Mulch your trees, preferably with a lovely woody mixture to excite beneficial fungi. You really don’t need to put your back out (and disturb the soil kingdom) by digging the grass out. Just lay cardboard or newspaper around the base of the tree and cover with mulch. Should your tree roots be beneath a living mulch of comfrey you can skip this job – the comfrey’s got it covered.
A Super Spray
Make a super-brew to spray over your trees when about half to all the leaves have fallen. this will happen at different times, in different climes – adapt to suit. Make a biological brew and spray generously – bark, limbs, ground beneath, the lot.
You’re building (as in “Rome wasn’t built in a day” type building), an army here. A crew of beneficial organisms to out-manoeuvre and out-compete detrimental fungi and bacteria. These fellas will speed decomposition so that leaf litter and fruit mummies disappear by spring and provide a boost to ‘good’ fungi for balanced nutrition.
Read my healthy fruit tree game plan + all about copper sprays here. Build a strong hearty orchard rather than spray fungicides (copper and lime sulfur).
Plant new trees
Yippee do – deciduous fruit tree/ cane and vine fruit planting time is upon us. I hope in all the excitement of new trees, you have the basics covered – made a harvest calendar, matched up pollinators, matched the tree to the right environment and located your tree/s with enough space in mind.
Working out fruit tree spacings is all about finding the goldilocks moment.
- Give more space to cool/ wet/ still environments than hot/ dry/ breezy ones.
- Plant trees as close as possible to make the most of your land, but don’t get too close that tree health suffers or access is blocked. Fruit trees need light and airflow and the gardener needs comfortable working room.
- Rootstock is the final part of the puzzle.
As for those crazy vines/ canes – how are you going to support them? Well is my hope.
Plant companions
Divide and plant out orchard companions to keep building diversity. Make up your own personalised guild by choosing your favourite + most useful plants.
- Deep rooting companions like comfrey, chicory, horseradish, fennel, parsnip, parsley, globe artichoke, borage or dandelion to recycle nutrients, open clay and hold sand – they’re value is enormous.
- Plenty of herbs and flowers to discourage pests, to feed beneficial insects and bring below ground diversity for a larger pool of biological life
- Nitrogen fixers provide an ongoing nutrient exchange for free! You dont need loads, just dotted about. Grow clovers and or legumes on your orchard floor or nitrogen fixing shrubs/ trees throughout or on the border.
Prune deciduous trees
Spend some time in your orchard doing a pre-prune ponder. Imagine the handsome look of your trees after pruning. Less really is more!
Knowing what you’re creating before you cut results in a far better prune than head down, start chopping. Please banish that dreadful word ‘hack’ from your vocabulary. Imagine a hairdresser saying “I’ll just have a hack at it”. You’d run a mile.
You are a source of such excellent advice — yay Kath! Your comments about copper are so helpful.
Happy to help!
Hi Kath,
I inherited a plum/peach graft on our new property that has very severe leaf curl. It is a fairly mature tree, and I may need to copper spray it; issue being, my gorgeous chickens are in the same area, and I am worried abiut the copper, which I believe can be toxic to them, hurting them.
Any thoughts? Is well pruned and I get rid of the fallen leaves, and of course the girls do their jobs eating the bugs.
Hi Helen
Sorry to say I don’t know about copper and chickens. I’d ask your local chook farmer or poultry breeder.
If the leaf curl is really bad you’d benefit from a lime sulphur spray while the tree is dormant (hold your nose – it’s eggy!). EM (from EMNZ) is fab too in the spring as an allover tree and the ground beneath spray. Seaweed is another option if you are beach side – hang it in the tree and pile it beneath.
So fabulously useful – chooks in the winter orchard!
I cant help wonder – are they there year round? Don’t they gobble up the fruit?!
best Kath
I found worm wee got rid of curly leaf.
Did you spray that wee on the tree?
Hi Kath
I am an ‘apprentice’ home gardener and love your work that provides great direction for sustainable practice.
I have been using EM, neem and just a standard seaweed liquid over summer (will be buying some of the seaweed liquid you recommend shortly).
In terms of the fish liquid is this Moana Natural and/or Moana Extra? And would you use this in addition to the EM, neem and seaweed mix? Or an alternative to seaweed?
Trying to get the foliar and ground mixes sorted in my head :).
Thanks
Dave
Hi there Dave, Moana natural is a really sound NZ product – I dont know the difference between the natural and the extra, the best thing to do is to ring them up and have a chat. Use either fish or seaweed, you dont need both ok. happy gardening, Kath
Do you spray the seaweed liquid?
Yip sure do! The link in the article about a biological brew will take to more info Kathie 🙂
Hi Kath,
What kind of sprayer do you use? I have tried some smaller once from the shops but they just end up dribbling and then not working at all. I know, you get what you pay for… Any tips?
Thanks heaps
Cheers
Maren
Hi Maren
A sprayer is one of those things that you need to spend some bucks on, the dribbling is so disheartening!!
I love solo backpacks. Have had mine for 10 years and still it goes :). I use it atleast once a month year round and in the height of summer every week. Do unscrew the spray nozzle and clean it with boiling water every now and then and especially if you are using Neem.
best Kath
Hi Kath.
Just spent an hour of my life trying to get Apple Pay to recognise my delivery address to no avail. It would appear that Foxton is a figment of my imagination. Do you have any at your house? And can I come and pick one up?
Please text me on 0274425358
Cheers Donna Eldridge (formally of Waikanae)
How annoying! Do you mean for buying a book Donna? If so yes I have boxes at home just send me an email with a time that you’ll be by.
cheers Kath
I am talking about the fruit pruning book. Just realised the comment didn’t follow the page I was reading at the time. :0)
Hey Kath great info as always – I note the q above about chooks and copper, but my q is about chooks and the bio sprays you mentioned – EM etc. Are these all ok to use with chooks in the same area?
Oh yes – you could bathe in those biological sprays 🙂 Safe as houses for all!
Excellent! That’s just what i hoped to hear!
Hi Kath – I love your blogs and I’m trying to do the best by my orchard with varying success. My problem is that I can’t seem to find the info when I need it. Ever thought of writing a sort of Orchard /vege patch Calendar that has a chronology of all the tasks needed for your orchard/vege patch?
Kind regards
Robina
Thanks Robina … and yes I agree it would be super helpful! I haven’t chosen it as a topic for a book because, putting my business hat on, sales of a regional diary aren’t promising. What do you think about the option to buy into a monthly or weekly email? Although there’s nothing more comforting or easy to manage than a book aye.
nga mihi
Kath
I’d be into buying a monthly or weekly sub that covers fruit and veg to dos by the region. LOVE the idea- I’m with Robina – trying my best but miss lots of windows as I stumble across things a bit late etc so a regional tailored to do would be 👌 especially timing of biological spraying of fruit tree etc! Not that your blog isn’t already a fabulous source of info Kath!!!!
Thanks Phoebe – thats really helpful to hear …. will see what I can come up with 🙂
Love this – thank you!
Hi Kath, love your blog and have bought your fantastic book. I wish I’d had it a year ago when I planted my apple trees! I didn’t prune and now have what appear to be 3 strong leaders… I’m thinking it’s probably not a case of “the more the merrier”? Should I take off the outside 2, and if so, right back to the central one or not?
I was also wondering if you could use the liquid in the bokashi bucket as a foliar spray instead of EM? Perhaps mixed with seaweed and Neem? My Nelson garden is so wet in winter that I find it hard to use the liquid up.
And finally, how often can I sprinkle the wood ash from my fire around the fruit trees? Are there any plants which don’t like ash?
Many thanks for your help.
Hiya Julie
Yes definately get rid of two so there is but one! Keep the best placed one ok and remove the others – get them right off! And yes bokachi juice is kin to EM – just use it instead for sure. As for woodash love that you’re using you’re valuing your ‘waste’ and reusing it. Just sprinkle around on the grass in your orchard as you clean your fire place out and no there is no one that’ll object they’ll all appreciate it 🙂
happy gardening
Kath
Hi Kath,
We have three peach trees, Blackboy, Golden Queen and a white peach. Am a learner re pruning and last year pruned away happily, pruning away several whippy little branches only to have peaches on the lower branches and each tree sprang up a zillion whippy branches. So many it was hard to part the foliage and spot the peaches. My question, what did I do wrong and what do I do to or with all those hundreds of little branches??? Many thanks.
Forever learning about pruning Nicola 🙂 Dont relate to it as wrong ok – its all very valuable learning. Perhaps you pruned too hard or perhaps you did alot of heading back rather than thinning – its pretty tricky to say without looking. Consider too how you fed your tree. Feeding has a big impact too so am wondering if you got all enthusiastic with something like blood and bone or manure? Feel free to do little and often seceteur size pruning all through the growing season. This is a great way to manage all the extra shoots that clutter the place up. Or prune after harvest while the leaves are still on for a realistic look at letting light in. For now get thinning! Remove entire branches to open the tree up rather than heading back or shortening them. Hope this helps, Kath
Thanks Kath. Actually I did prune to open the tree up and removed any clutter from the centre. There were heaps of the Twiggy little branches in the centre and growing off larger branches. I gritted my teeth and took them all off. That’s what I wondered, having done that they grew back with a vengeance. No I didn’t go mad with fertiliser but it is growing in soil which is heavily mulched and next to our septic tank. I noticed your comment about manure and wondered.🤔.
Hello Kath
You mention a spray for the fruit trees made with EM, Neem and Fish/Seaweed solution. What proportions of each do you use please? 1:1:1 or something else.
Thanks for your help.
Graeme
Hi Graeme, Just the ratio for each as per instructions on the bottle ok. Treat them as individuals in your spray pack even though you are putting them together. Eg: 1ml per litre for NEEM, 1ml per litre for EM, 10ml per litre for seaweed (or whatever the instructions for your particular seaweed is) Hope this helps. Kind regards Kath
Thanks Kath that’s really helpful. My EM is being couriered to Palmerston North as I write.
Graeme
Hi Kath hope all is well. Just a question about a lovely old apple tree which i think probably should get pruned i don’t know what sort of apple it is. It is a great cooker and eater and has yellow flesh. You probably know the tree anyway. Should I prune the whole thing back or should i do it in stages over a couple of years. I’ve been here 3 years and not touched it. It is prolific cropper so would hate to stop it from cropping if you get my drift.
Also could i buy your book and either pick it up or get you to drop it in my letterbox. I can do paypal but if i can save the postage that would be great.
Cheers Jo
Hiya Jo,
Trees are wonderfully forgiving – you wont kill it! Rather you’ll inspire fresh shoots for new fruits in a few years. My way is to steadily prune back old trees rather than a dramatic chop. Pruning elicits a response from the tree – the harder the prune the harder the shooting next year = curly problems for the pruner! Keep things steady with a gentle prune over a few years. Older trees usually require a few big branches off initially. Choose the most out of balance or tallest branch to completely remove. Balance the tree out by cutting back longer branches to meet shorter branches. Remove wood to let light shine into as many nooks and crannys as possible – flowering and fruiting is all about the light. Grab my book from Bernie at paperplus Levin ok or flick me an email through my website and we can arrange something. Hope this helps 🙂
Great thanks for the advise i shall attemot and not be daunted by it. I’ll check out paperplus as well.
cheers Jo
Thanks for the great info. Just to let you know, the new and improved name for Blackboy peach is “Sanguine” per Tree Crops.
Hello Kath
Is there anywhere in central Hawke’s bay that sells your pruning book?
Or would I be able to purchase it from Sarah Frater when I pick up my new fruit trees??
Kind regards
Yvonne
Yip to both! https://www.ediblebackyard.co.nz/find-my-book-in-these-bookshops/
Hi Kath I’m a novice gardener and have been learning so much from your book. We live on coastal hill country on the west coast of the north island which is rugged and beautiful but can be wild at times! I’m in the process of buying Naturally Neem, EM1 and seaweed for a biological spray. Just wondered about the Oceans Organics – would I be best getting the soil concentrate or the foliar concentrate to add to my spray? Thanks Donna
kia ora Donna, I have only ever used the foliar. Be interesting to see what the difference is – am sure Oceans organics will be super helpful for you here. And I bet both would be great. Enjoy!
Kath, what do you use to spray out EM/ Neem / seaweed mix? I thought putting EM through high pressure ruined it?
Hi Jen – either use a back pack sprayer or one of the genius hortex sprayers that EMNZ sell.
Hi Kath this year I’m starting my little orchard in Evergrow bags so I can get them underway at our rental property and take them with us when we finally buy somewhere. I’ve never done fruit trees before and have a couple of questions please:
1) Do I attempt to do any staking or companion planting or just leave them solo in the bags?
2) Should I do any initial pruning on the non-deciduous trees (feijoas, citrus, blueberries) – eg taking off all the branches below hip height in the trees that are tall enough – or any pruning in the first year of their lives?
3) Would you just do everything else as if they were planted in the ground?
Hope your travels are going well!
Thanks heaps as always
Alana
Hi Alana, Don’t worry about staking the trees unless they are in a windy spot and vulnerable to blowing over in which case the best way is a stake in the ground beside the bag, not in the bag itself. A companion or two at the base is worth it I reckon, though stick to smaller growing, groundcover types in bags. Yes, it can be helpful to create a clear trunk at the base of the tree by removing the lower growths on the citrus and blueberries and feijoas. Also remove any out of balance growths – eg overly long ones – head them back in line with the rest for balance, or where there is cluster of growths perhaps thin the excess out. A light prune to create balance – and only if needed.
Otherwise yes, follow along as per in ground.
Enjoy!
K x
Thank you!
Dear Kath
My daughter in Glen Eden (Auckland) has a feijoa which was damaged in the storm earlier this year. She has bound the split and the tree did fruit this year, But what would you recommend now? Cut the trunk below the split or leave as is? We have pruned it so the canopy is less than it was to reduce weight and growth.
I have photos if they would be helpful.
Graeme
Dear Graeme, I did reply – I hope you get my answer this time around.
Bind and prune is perfect Graeme! The tree is showing you already its powers of regeneration. Tell her to keep her eyes on it, and trim away any overly long or out of balance growths as they reveal themselves. Thin off as many fruits as possible, as she can bear! – the less energy it puts into the fruits right now, the more energy it has for repair.
All she need do is keep the tree well mulched – don’t go feeding it up at this time of year.
Biological sprays (find the details on the site) will do the world of good, but really, Feijoas are hardy and will shoot away! Just watch and see!
Thanks Kath. Your advice is much appreciated. It seems we are on the right track.
Graeme