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St Lawrence Nurseries
325 State Hwy 345
Potsdam, NY 13676
315-265-6739

THE HOME ORCHARD

An orchard is a convenient grouping of trees, which can be all of one species, or include several. Our own home fruit orchard includes apples, pears, plums, pie cherries, and cherry-plums on a slope of sandy loam. We also maintain a plantation of young black walnuts in a different location, a flat piece with more clayey soils. Soils are a prime consideration in establishing your orchard.  Deep well-drained loams with a pH of 6.5-6.8 are the best for fruit trees. Avoid shallow soils (depth to bedrock 8-36 inches), and light sands with a high percolation rate. Soils with very slow percolation rates, like heavy clay or waterlogged ground, are not good sites for your orchard. Cold air flows slowly downhill, piling up in the low places or “frost pockets.” Therefore, your fruit orchard should be strategically placed on high ground or on a hillside where the cold air will flow past it.  In the far north, the best sites are often open slopes to the southeast, south or southwest (although the latter choice might increase chances of sunscald or “southwest injury”, a form of winter damage.) However, the top or middle of a hill in any direction is better than planting at the bottom of one. Our own fruit orchard happens to be on a west-facing slope. Favorable microclimatic conditions might include proximity to a large body of water such as a river or lake, the presence of a natural windbreak to the north, such as a woodlot,  or the presence of one or more large buildings which can provide shelter from winds and give off some heat. Judge your land critically. Does existing vegetation thrive or barely survive?  If climatic or soil conditions are too harsh for native bushes and trees, it is unlikely that fruit or nut trees will thrive. If the only site available for your orchard does not meet all of the ideal conditions, don’t despair. There are things you can do to improve the site, especially if you start thinking about your orchard a few years in advance of planting the trees. Spreading manure, compost, old hay or any organic material will improve the fertility and water-holding capacity of the soil.  Even mowing the grass and weeds two or three times during the summer and letting them “compost” naturally will increase soil fertility and encourage beneficial microorganisms in the surface layers of the soil. The ideal approach to developing a future orchard site is to remove all brush, plow and disc the ground to get it as smooth as possible, and plant a grass/legume cover crop. The resulting sod will stabilize the soil, and the ground will be more level for future mowing operations. We must hasten to add, however, that our own orchard was not planted in this ideal way. Do the best that you can within the limits of your available time, money and equipment.

Spacing

An orchard may be any size you wish, from 5 to 500 trees.  Fruiting trees need lots of sunlight to ripen their fruit, and this should be the primary consideration when deciding how far apart to place the trees.  A single row of trees with open fields on each side may be planted closer together than trees in multiple rows.  This is because the branches of the trees in the single row can stretch out further sideways for their light requirements, while the branches of trees in multiple rows are limited by the presence of their “next door neighbors.” Another spacing consideration is your climate. If you are in the far north, your trees will be smaller at maturity than they would have been if grown in a warmer zone.  Hence a Zone 3 grower might space her standard apple trees 25 feet apart, while a 35 foot spacing would be required in Zone 6.  Altitude has a similar effect on the overall size of trees. Two lone (standard size) fruit trees in a backyard might be planted as close as 15 feet if they are in a cold climate. Minimum orchard spacing between most fruit and nut trees is 20 feet; maximum 40 feet.

Orchard patterns

The simplest orchard pattern is the square: rows of trees in which the distance between each row is the same as the distance between each tree.  The advantage of the square is that tractors and equipment can be run horizontally or longitudinally throughout the orchard.  The disadvantage is the “dead” space between 4 trees, which, in orchards with wide spacing distances, can represent a large amount of the total orchard area.  A more space-efficient pattern is the quincunx, which consists of rows planted in a staggered “bricklayers” arrangement.   Tree “1” in row B is midway between trees “1” and “2”  in row A, etc.  The square and the quincunx represent only  two types of the many patterns available.  The quincunx is probably the most widely used when there are more than two rows in the orchard.  Fruit trees represent a long term commitment to agriculture. When laying out your orchard, keep in mind the probable movement patterns of tractors, wagons, spray equipment, etc.  Will you use irrigation?  How will the water be delivered to the orchard? Planning ahead will help you to use the natural topography of your land wisely.

If you plan to use straight rows, keep each tree dead straight in the row!  It’s difficult to mow an orchard when even one tree is 6-12" out of line.  All too often, young trees that are out of line get squashed by a tractor tire during routine maintenance operations.

Mowing

Don't be a mow-aholic. Long grasses provide good habitat for beneficial insects. These beneficials help control pests that might otherwise plague your orchard, so don't mow away their habitat. Through Spring and early summer, mow only the area around each tree. We usually do not mow between the rows until July, and even then will often leave a narrow strip of tall grass in the middle. Our second mowing takes place just before harvest.
 
The following are general guidelines for small commercial and home orchardists growing organically in Zones 3 through 5 in the Northeast. Conditions specific to your growing location may add to or change some of these recommendations.


THE ORCHARD YEAR
January
  1. Read a book on pruning.
  2. Pack snow down around hardware-cloth mouse/rabbit guards.
July
  1. Light summer pruning.
  2. Pick up drop apples.
  3. Harvest pie cherries.
  4. Mow orchard toward end of month.
February
  1. Pack snow around guards.
  2. Begin pruning last week of the month.
  3. Spread wood ashes around trees.
August
  1. Loosen and reset hardware-cloth cages and mesh around trees.
  2. Check for borer entry holes on trunk.
  3. Harvest early apples, early pears, & plums.
  4. Remove and clean apple maggot traps. (red spheres)
March
  1. Continue pruning.
  2. Remove tent caterpillar egg cases.
September
  1. Continue harvest.
  2. Paint trunks for sunscald protection with white latex paint.
  3. Keep drops picked up.
  4. Continue to watch for borers.
  5. Monitor mouse and rabbit population.
April
  1. Finish pruning before green-tip bud stage; pick up prunings.
  2. Apply dormant oil.
  3. At first green of bud tips, use sulfur scab spray. There should be 10-14 days between oil and sulfur sprays.
October
  1. Final orchard mowing.
  2. Finish harvest and pick up all drops.
  3. Mow or rake leaves if practiceable (to limit spores of scab overwintering.)
  4. Clean and winterize sprayer.
May
  1. Apples bloom around the 12th to the 17th in Zone 3.
  2. Spray foliar feed.
  3. First application of Surround at full bloom.
  4. Repeat Surround at 5-7 day intervals for a month...6 to 8 sprays.
  5. Pick off any tent caterpillar nests.
November
  1. Make sure all trees are painted with white latex paint and all mouse/rabbit guards are in place.
  2. Check deer protection (fence.)
  3. Spread lime if needed.
June
  1. Continue Surround. Add bt or Entrust for codling moth control.
  2. Hang apple maggot traps. (red spheres)
  3. Thin apples when 1 to 1 1/2 inches.
December
Take a break!

For sources of organic disease/insect control sprays, monitors and traps, see Sources.