August is your last chance to check in on tree vigour! How well did each of you fruit trees grow last season? Read all about it here, and use the info to decide whether or not you need to apply compost and mulch. If there is one job you sort this winter, let it be this.
Watch the blossom!
For the sheer pleasure of it, but equally for the wisdom it brings. Blossom through to baby fruits is a key time to observe – its the foundation of good harvests. When you are in step with what’s happening, poor crops are no longer mysterious because you were there for the big wind that blew the plum blossom to shreds or the big rain that hammered the apple flowers. Equally when crops were great, the bee covered blossoms + sunny, calm days foretold it.
Prevent fungal disease
If, last growing season, fungal disease showed up (rot, cankers, oozing sap, fruit scab, leaf spots or leaf curl), make a plan for the season ahead and get out ahead of it. Fungal disease is a sign that there’s not enough beneficial fungi and biology operating in your orchard. It’s a numbers game. Simple as that. Whoever fills the space, wins the day.
Make the beneficial’s the rulers! Its a lot more fun and is as simple as a solid set up + good garden practice. My healthy fruit tree game plan takes you through the nuts and bolts. That’s all it takes! Do the basics well, and good health will follow.
If your fruit trees are new, or if fungal disease is overwhelming, biological fungicide is a good option – read all about it here. Buy a bottle now because the window to apply it is small – as soon as buds unfurl you want to get it on.
Increase your orchard diversity
A diversity of plants in and around your fruit trees is long term the most potent (and only truly sustainable) form of fertility. Where there plants are diverse, soil life (fungi, bacteria, microbes, worms, beetles et all) are diverse. Soil biology in its many forms is the true champion of above ground health – the more there are, the healthier your trees ergo the less disease.
Winter is your opportunity to increase plant diversity. Choose plants from different families to the ones you have, and ones with different growth habits e.g. tap roots, bulbs, tall herbs, shrubs – mix it up!
Prune Citrus
Timing is everything when it comes to pruning citrus. Here’s your guide: “How (+ when) to prune citrus”
- If you live somewhere warm and mild, then prune late winter – right after harvest.
- If it’s frosty at yours, delay pruning until risk of frost is over – mid to late spring is fine.
Notching: a cool pruning trick!
Towards the end of this month, you have a cool opportunity to create new branches on young, deciduous fruit trees in training. Notching is a simple, old school trick that stimulates a branch to grow. Use it to fill any empty spaces in your scaffold structure. Read about it here.
Frost protection
If more frosts are likely, cover trees with frost cloth. Should any of your citrus or subtropicals get frosted, leave those burned and brown leaves on as a layer of protection. Prune any damaged wood after risk of frost is gone.
