Weeding the Web

A good weed? Grow a Little Fruit Tree book review

It's not often that a gardening book has me champing at the bit to get out and do something. But after reading the new book by Ann Ralph, Grow a Little Fruit Tree, I was desolate at the thought that I had missed the bare-root planting season.

Ann Ralph is a fruit-tree expert who's spent twenty years in nurseries and teaches pruning in California. What, she asks, is the point of having a large tree that produces so much fruit that much of it plummets to the ground and is wasted? Or why struggle with a tree that is too tall to pick from easily? 

Why, indeed?

Instead, she advocates a series of small trees, pickable from ground level, producing fruit in succession in reasonable quantities as the season progresses.  And so she goes all out to explain, as the subtitle spells out, Simple Pruning Techniques for Small-Space, Easy-Harvest Fruit Trees.  It makes eminent sense and, intending as I have been to have a go at creating my own espaliers, I was hooked by the whole idea.

The book is full of points that I know I'll be quoting to myself when pruning makes me timid.

Fruit trees are healthier and more abundant, not in spite of what we do to them, but because of it.

And, speaking of timidity, here's something to hang on to:

If you don't know what to do, cut some stuff out.

That's what I love about this book; Ann totally understands the paralysis of pruning, when you're standing with secateurs for 20 minutes before putting them back in your pocket and walking away in confusion. She's reassuring about how little damage you can really do. She also knows just how hard it will be when your new trees arrive.  Read the book, though, and you're thoroughly braced for that initial heading cut - at knee height.

Before we look at the reason for such drastic action, what does this book cover? In eleven chapters Ann tells us why we should want small fruit trees; why proper fruit management is good for us, the garden and the trees; why you're better off going for a more vigorous rootstock and relying on pruning, rather than a dwarfing rootstock (which will either give you too big a tree, anyway, or present its own problems).

She covers summer pruning - the key to this method of fruit-tree growing and which is a whole lot easier on a person-height tree. I already summer prune. It's one of my favourite jobs, so I needed no persuading.

She also covers different planting options to bring in the maximum number of varieties. How about planting three trees in one hole and pruning them as if they were one tree?  By the time she's finished with you, you'll be imagining low-branching, head-height trees, beautifully proportioned, brightening your borders in spring and filling the fruit-bowl at a steady pace.

Of course, this isn't a new way of growing fruit - orchards have grown them like this for years - but it's not so often seen in the back garden.

This is a clever book in the way it imparts knowledge. It took a couple of chapters before I suddenly realised that Ann's casual, friendly style had actually handed me a lot of information. Some of it I've never heard before: "Be aware that a fruit tree is still dormant when it's blooming." Some gives you an oh-I-see moment: summer prune too late and a tree will feel it as a winter prune because it's already withdrawing nutrients from the leaves.

The sections that tell you about actual pruning take up only about half the pages. As she says:

This book is not a technical manual - fruit tree management is far less complicated than we have been led to believe.

The pruning chapters cover elementary principles; what to do to shape the tree in the seasons after that initial cut, and four basic pruning rules on keeping a tree as you want it. There's also The Hardest Pruning Cut You'll Ever Have to Make, in which she screws your courage to the sticking place for that knee-high lop which will give you the easy-reach branches and, without which, you'll never have the tree you're aiming for.

Previous chapters cover general points about planting (no soil amendment!) and fruit varieties, and later ones look helpfully at watering (with information useful for all sorts of plants), working with nature to limit pests and diseases (she's a big advocate of promoting health through using worm castings), and when your fruit is actually ripe.

This isn't just about apples and pears. Ann's advice applies to cherries, plums, figs, and some that you're much more likely to find in California: peaches, apricots and persimmons. However, because she deals in principles rather than minute detail, it's a book that's useful everywhere.

The downside? Because it doesn't go in for rigid detail, it can be hard to refind bits that you want to check again. However, (hurrah!) there is an index. 

Espaliers are covered generally, but for total hand-holding you'd probably want to check a more specific tome. Thanks to the wonders of cold storage, I now have a couple of espaliers growing away (more about that soon) and I did want to know exactly when to remove the shoots that have emerged all up the trunks. I suspect, though, if I'd asked Ann herself, she'd have told me it wasn't that critical. In future years, I'll...

...Picture an espalier in your mind and cut off anything that doesn't fit into the picture.

Without doubt, this is a book I'll be coming back to again and again. As it was, when I discovered I wasn't too late for bare-root planting, it fired me with so much enthusiasm that I bought exactly twice as many maiden whips as I actually had space for.

And I'm wondering where I can squeeze in a few more next year.

For more info and pictures, see a Q&A with Ann Ralph And for another review, visit Emma Cooper.

Grow a Little Fruit Tree by Ann Ralph, was supplied by Storey Publishing for independent review. RRP £11.99, ISBN: 978-1-61212-054-6. Available from Hive at £8.85.

Apple scab takes over

How are your apples? Mine look absolutely ghastly. Our unnamed 25 year-old variety that ripens round now is, pretty much, one big scab.  OK, so the fruit is still broadly edible, but some of the scab is so bad that it's cracked, and those apples will have to be used asap before disease creeps in.

All parts of a tree can be affected, and scab also causes early leaf fall and thus weakens the tree if it continues for several seasons.

Not every apple gets scab. Our Egremont Russet has escaped, faithfully living up to its reputation as one of the numerous varieties that are extremely scab resistant. So what happened to the anonymous variety this year? There's often a bit of scab, but on nothing like the scale we're seeing now.

What is Apple Scab?

Apple scab is a fungus (Venturia inaequalis) which overwinters on fallen leaves. You have to admire Nature. Maturity of spores, rather magically, coincides with the development of the tree, and their release begins with bud-break, when the leaves first emerge (a time also known as "green-tip"). By the time the blossom is over, most spores have matured, spurred on by periods of weather most conducive to tree growth (when, presumably, they're somehow alerted to the presence of fresh "flesh").

The number of spores released is, as you can imagine, directly related to the number of infected leaves left over from the previous season. A 1-3% increase in infected leaves on the ground is likely to result, the following spring, in a 10% increase of spores released at green-tip; a 5% increase leads to a ten-fold increase in spores. (Source: Apple Scab Disease Management video from MSU).

Mature spores are released in wet weather, about half an hour after rain begins (fascinatingly, if it rains at night, spores don't usually spurt forth until daybreak - fungus afraid of the dark?). They're blown by wind onto fruit and leaves, which need to be wet for them to germinate. They will then infect the apple if conditions are favourable. For example, if leaves and fruit stay wet for 23 hours at an average 5.5 degrees Centigrade (42F), or 9 hours at 16-24 degrees C (61-75F), then lesions will appear in approx 3 or 2 weeks respectively. 

Spores from these new lesions are dispersed by rain throughout the season and - wouldn't you know it? -  these these lesions release even more spores than are coming from the lesions on leaves on the ground.  So infection continues, although leaves are completely resistant once they're full grown, and only succumb again once their cuticles begin to crack. Fruit also becomes more resistant, though late scab infection can develop in stored fruit.

Why this year?

April and May were warmer than average for most in the UK, and in April and May we had plenty of rain in the south, so it's not surprising that fungus flourished.

But not without a little help, you're no doubt thinking.

And you'd be right - I never clear up leaves. Combine this with the weather and the result are obvious to all. But enough of my sluttish ways. This year every single leaf is coming out from under that tree.  Yes, there are sprays that can be employed at strategic moments in spring, but let's see if a little garden hygiene won't go a long way. 

Annoyingly, as the tree tends to bear biennially, if it does work I won't enjoy the fruits of my labour until 2016.

(Incidentally, if you'd like more science, Cornell University has a useful Apple Scab factsheet. And so does the Horticultural Development Company.)

 

 

 

Codling the moths no longer

Last year was an appalling one for codling moths, at least among our apples. They behaved like vandals fouling every bed in a house left empty. Few were the apples that escaped their noisome burrowings.

This year I intend to be different, and have extracted from the shed the codling moth trap that I purchased last spring (the codling cohort has been gathering strength for some time).

These traps should be put up at the end of May (it's not too late) so onto the tree it went last weekend and I dismally assumed that, given the downpours and damp air that persisted this week, nothing would have been flying.

But no! Already I have caught fifteen of the little blighters. The idea, of course, is to use it as an early warning of pest infestation, so that you know when to spray the trees.

Fifteen moths caught within a week should trigger my pest-control response, according to the packet it came in. For orchards it suggests that five moths ring the alarm, and as the tree is within the specified 15-metre range of five other trees, that sort of constitutes orchard conditions. All in all, this feels like an invasion and things aren't looking good.

However, despite the magic number fifteen, I'm not keen on spraying and, according to a useful codling moth factsheet from Which?, it's darn difficult to get the timing right, so I think I'll rely on the organic gardener's hope that enough male moths will be caught to leave the females virginal and childless.

The thing that makes me slightly nervous is the warning from the Organic Gardening Catalogue that birds might be attracted to the moths inside the trap and that I should check regularly to ensure that none is wedged inside. I really don't fancy trying to unstick small bony feet from the glue on the trap.

Most of the traps sold are the Agralan design I've got, but, given the bird worry, it might be worth investing in one from Harrod Horticultural. You need to keep it topped up with soapy water but reviews are good and I can't see a bird sneaking in there.

NB I bought my trap from my local Horticultural Society for the bargain price of £5.15, rather than Amazon's £7.99. If you've got a local society, it's really worth checking them out.

Are we heading for a fruitless summer?

The RHS has reported that we could be facing a fruitless summer this year, as the winter chill, supposedly required for various fruits to crop, has been mostly absent. Bushes are also flowering early. While frost might be a real problem in killing off early blossom, the high winter temperatures aren't necessarily a cause for despair. It seems that we probably don't know as much about the temperature requirements, certainly of apple trees, as we think.

For an alternative view, do see my post from last November, A Chilling Time for Apples Ahead?  Or go straight to the Apples and Oranges blog for an eye-opener on parts of the world that grow apples where convention says it's impossible.

Chilling times for apples ahead?

Fog. Planes grounded. Finally, it seems, autumn has arrived, although down here in the south of England the temperatures still aren't exactly teeth-chattering. No sign yet of the predicted icy winter. This could be a worry for apple growers, as sufficient chilling is regarded as necessary for most apple cultivars to set blossom the following year. The snowy winters of 2009 and 2010 had a hand in some bumper harvests.

Much is said about minimum chill requirements. According to an article that used to appear on the excellent Orange Pippin website, apple trees generally need around 1000 hours at temperatures between 1°C and 7°C (33-45°F), though there are “low-chill” varieties, such as Anna, that require only 300 hours.

Before we worry, though, about whether Granny Smith is going to get enough sleep this winter, here’s something that Jim Hester, a certified nurseryman from California, said back in 1996 when the state enjoyed unseasonably warm weather. While farmers fretted, he reassured home growers: “Most people probably won't notice. For the farmer, a full crop can mean everything, but for the home grower, whether you get 100 pieces of fruit on your tree or 85 isn't going to make that much of a difference.”

Meanwhile, apple expert Kevin Hauser, who also writes the informative Apples and Oranges blog, thinks that far too much emphasis is put on temperature. In fact, a recent posting derides experts who quote experts on the chill factor, without having any experience, and shows a Dixie Red Delight cropping on only 250 chilling hours. He writes: "The truth is the chilling hour needs of different apple varieties are not known and cannot be speculated, and the only way to find out is to plant it somewhere warm and see what happens... More often than not, the chilling requirement is much, much lower than anyone would have guessed." 

He and other growers in the region have another theory, too. The Sandy Bar Ranch quotes his opinion that leaf drop, and not low temperatures, triggers dormancy.  Dormancy is characterised by leaf drop, so it seems that it can be induced, whatever the temperature, by removing the leaves oneself.

So those of us who'd like to maximise our crop in these cash-strapped days can do more than hope for cold weather. So far temperatures haven’t risen so much that apple trees don’t lose their leaves in this part of the world but, while my russet has only a few yellowing leaves lingering on the branches, my Bramley is fully clothed and green. If its leaves don't drop soon, I'll consider stripping them off, just to make sure.

A Rare Nibble at Apple Varieties

August seems a little early to mention bare-root fruit trees, as these don't go in until November at the very earliest, but here's something that you need to know about now if you're interested. If you think you might be adding a fruit tree to your garden this winter, but aren't sure what to order, then this opportunity from Orange Pippin Fruit Trees (NB 2014: offer now discontinued) might help your decision.

They're offering a range of tasting boxes of fruit grown at Brogdale Fruit Collection or Heritage Orchards, also at Brogdale Farm, in selections such as Cox's Orange Pippin strains and Chef's Apples, as well as boxes of pears, quinces, plums, gages and damsons. If you're interested in a particular variety, it might be possible to include it.

They recommend ordering in advance, as stocks are limited, and will deliver 2.5kg of early-mid or late-season apples in August to October, depending on the varieties.

I've thought for ages that Brogdale was missing out on ways to exploit the fruit it grows, and this looks like a good way to get to know some of our lesser known varieties. Of course, taste varies according to weather conditions and soil, so a variety might not taste quite the same as it does from Brogdale when grown in your garden, but at least you'll have a better idea of the taste it has.  Boxes are priced at £26 and it looks as if that includes delivery.

Codling moths gather early - or do they?

Bright sunshine, glorious warmth. What else to do but relax in the recliner, gaze languidly up into the apple tree, and "What the...?!?"

I counted 15 of them: small, dark moths with extraordinarily long antennae. I'd have thought them cute, but for their intense concentration on a tree that contributes substantially to our food supply. Anything that focussed and that numerous just has to be bad, doesn't it?

But what were they?  Seriously hampered by the fact that they were too high to see properly, and wouldn't stay still long enough for me to snap a close-up, I first plumped for the codling moth as the main apple pest known to me, but they would be rather early. Here we were at the end of April and the RHS tells us that they emerge in late May-June (to lay eggs on or near developing fruits from June to mid-July).

Saving our heritage apples

Last month I posted my startling discovery (startling to me, anyway) that cooking apples are virtually unknown in the States. To find out why this might be, I emailed Bill Spencer who runs Windrose Farm in California. Certified Organic and becoming Biodynamic, it’s one place that does grow them. Could it be that Bramleys are not to American tastes?

Bill replied, “The short answer is that we know of over five or six thousand varieties of apple that once grew in the US and now the ‘corporate Industrial Agricultural System’ that is pervading the planet sells fewer and fewer, maybe six or eight varieties.”

Bramleys, he says, do very well there and are, indeed, greatly sought after, but like most ‘heirloom’ varieties they don’t fit the ‘corporate’ needs, not being uniform or ready all at once and having different management needs from all the commercial apples.

Sadly, we can’t hold our heads any higher in Britain, even if we have preserved our national taste for ‘cookers’.

Bramley apples: a very British taste

While the commercial world is pushing love and gearing up to pink—hearts, ribbons, cards for St Valentine’s Day—others are pushing something completely different. This week is, in the ways of marketing, Bramley Apple Week.

Now, Bramleys are a British staple with a noble history. But according the website of the Bramley Apple Information Service (of course there’s one) they are exclusive to Britain. How weird. Surely a few people in the States grow them?

Bare root fruit trees from Blackmoor Nurseries

If you’re thinking of putting in a fruit tree, now’s the time to be doing something about it. Blackmoor Nurseries in Hampshire have an excellent, easy-to-navigate website offering about seventy varieties of apple, as well as stone fruit, cob trees and soft fruit.

The apple section is particularly helpful, with each variety listed with its pollination group, history and notes on taste.

Although not organic, Blackmoor say they use natural predators and keep spraying to a minimum. There’s lots of information and plenty of photos of cultivars, with detailed advice on planting and caring for your purchases.

I bought a Bramley from them a couple of years ago. They were very patient with my questions and the tree arrived promptly, looking very healthy. I’m glad to say that it’s still healthy despite suffering flooded roots in some very heavy rain last year, and this year was allowed its first harvest of three big apples.

You can’t beat Bramleys in a crumble.