A Great Leap Orchard

We were back at the orchard last Wednesday morning, January 25^th, and it was time to finish what we had started two weeks prior; pruning our Crimson Pear trees, and seeing if we could tackle the section of Cherry trees. Having had some great instruction from Kent Mullinix on the 11th of January, many of us were feeling a bit more confident with our pruning skills. Pruning can be a bit of daunting task, as a mistake can have dire consequences that could take several years to recuperate.
Being students, we are new to this, but very eager to learn! Like Kent said two weeks ago, that’s what these trees are here for, for us to learn and hone in our skill sets, and hopefully get a good crop in the process.

.....And a Piper in a Pear Tree

The Seven Shear Itch:

So, we started with the Crimson Pears as we had two weeks prior, using the Steep Leader system, tries to encourage a Goblet formation of three leader branches.  Taking away any branches that were coming into the centre of the Goblet, and anything going straight up into the sky. Assessing if any branches were shading out other branches, and trying to find that balance of vegetative and reproductive growth. As mentioned in Eric’s post of our first orchard adventure, these trees are about 7 years old, and bit behind schedule in their production, and we are hoping to get our first real pear crop this year.

Gummosis infection

Infection Day:

The cherry trees are a different story entirely.  There is one row of trees by the ditch that have very clearly been maintained last year.  The other trees, however, were a hot tangled mess. This is when Rebecca explained that we have been having some trouble with a severe case of Gumosis, a bacterial infection, and she was not optimistic when talking about the future of these trees.  We all began to prune the trees that seemed like they could survive another year.  With further inspection, we ceased pruning as there were signs of gummosis on these trees as well. Rebecca believes they will need to be removed.  A part of me wanted to continue pruning the trees just for more practice. It would be nice not having to worry too much about making a mistake, as these trees have now been condemned. But class is only three hours long and there were many other tasks that needed to be completed on our second day at the orchard.

 Pruned in 2016                                                        Left to their own devices

Started from the bottom now we’re here:

Our next big challenge of the day was to tackle the currant bush, which resides very awkwardly behind a sign.  Rebecca had mentioned that she has been wanting to tackle this bush for several years now.  I imagine, that as our program is still pretty small, and this is the biggest Agro-ecosystems class so far, that there hasn’t been enough man power to get everything finished in previous years.  Getting my first glance at this currant bush,  I wasn't surprised why Rebecca was so determined to prune it this year! Plus, the added bonus of being able to teach a different pruning style. Currant bushes have new growth coming from the crown, and we want to encourage an upright structure, and not horizontal growth.  New growth comes from the crown, and by making cuts from the bottom, we are able to encourage new growth from the crown.  The diameter of the branches coming from the crown, and the “gnarly” bark will help you determine the age of the wood. We wanted to keep some branches that were in the ideal fruit producing years of about 3-5 years. Getting rid of anything older, to keep the bush from getting too overcrowded. There was a lot taken off the bush this year, in the next few years there will less to prune.

Before                                                                                      After      

Aimee goes the hole nine yards 

Burning the Midnight Soil: Next on the itinerary were some soil evaluations at a few different areas of the orchard. With help from Torin, our farm manager who was the muscle who dug all the holes, and Aimee, our Soil Scientist.

REDOX reactions

Our first hole was at our AB3 plot, and was 62cm deep, with the water table showing up at about 32cm. This could be determined by the mottling and redox reactions at this height. Both the A and B horizons were found to be a Silt Clay Loam, with a pH of 6, which is slightly acidic. With considering our climate, and how close to the ocean the land is, a pH of 6 is perfectly respectable. Most nutrients are still readily available at this pH. We are hoping to plant our corn crop in this part of AB3, and corn is happy at pH 6.  

Our second hole was in the cherry tree orchard. The hole was 80cm deep, also with a 32cm water table, and was found to have a pH of 6.1 throughout the horizons. The A horizon ended at 14 -20cm, and was a silt clay loam. The B-horizon was a clay loam, and the Bf horizon was found to be sandy clay, you could even hear the sand grains grind against the shovel. This variety of soil textures at the different horizons is probably due to the fact that there is no    tilling in an orchard; therefore, there soil isn’t artificially mixed up.

Testing the pH

Our last hole was in the F-block section. We are not sure how deep the hole was, because the water table was found to be 24 cm, and the hole filled with water.  The texture of this soil was clay or silt clay, which has a huge water holding capacity.  We are planning to plant some potatoes in this block this year, and hopefully we can add some organic matter to this soil to increase drainage, and the overall health of the soil. 

AB3 Block                                        Cherry Pit                                               F Block