CONSERVATION & ECOLOGY
A brief guide to orchard creation
Ashridge Nurseries, one of the UK’s premium suppliers of fruit trees, offers the following advice:
Planting an Orchard - Selecting the site orchard
This is a brief (non-exhaustive) guide to choosing a good position for your fruit orchard. You can find the best fruit trees for sale at the cheapest prices and buy them all but, if you don't plant them in the right place, it will all prove to have been a waste of time.
Put your orchard on a slope
The single biggest enemy of fruit production is frost. Fruit trees flower relatively early and a late frost can wipe out your crop. Cold air is heavy and slides downhill so keep your orchard out of dips, valleys, hollows and sheltered flat ground. Because it is heavy, it displaces warmer air so the warmest spots at night tend to be 100-300 feet above sea level on a slope away from the prevailing wind.
Keep fruit trees out of the wind
Paradoxically, that warm, sunny southwest facing slope will get the prevailing wind (and gales) if it is not sheltered. Pollinating insects hate the wind. A sheltered north-east facing slope is better than a wind blasted south-western one.
Don’t plant too high
Slopes are great, but above 300 feet over sea level temperatures drop by 1 degree Fahrenheit for every 300 feet increase in altitude. Up to 600 feet on a sheltered slope is fine and there are successful orchards at 800 feet, but don't go any higher than that.
Remember, if you are planting high that wind shelter is essential, and you may need to plant a windbreak to protect your trees and ensure pollination.
Get the soil right
The soil does not need to be especially rich (although good soil helps). The number one soil requirement is that there is a combination of adequate drainage and sufficient moisture. The worst soil is potter's clay which, although rich, is under water all winter and brick hard all summer. Fruit tree roots need to breathe and, at the same time, they need access to water to help swell their fruit. Good soil texture helps moisture retention and prevents fruit splitting, which is a classic sign of an uneven water supply.
www.ashridgetrees.co.uk Painted Lady on blossom ©Wachman, Pixabay
really does not matter how much space you have! So, with thanks to the Wildlife Trust, here are some pointers to creating your orchard.
Planting a traditional orchard
This is the ideal scenario; planting five or more widely spaced fruit trees on vigorous rootstocks. Five trees as a minimum means the orchard would ‘qualify’ as an orchard under the current habitat definition. Vigorous rootstocks lead to the largest trees, sometimes 30ft high, meaning lots of fruit (with plenty of access for wildlife) and lots of deadwood and cavities which are good for several animals. Wide spacing allows lots of light into the grassland beneath the trees to allow a high diversity of ground flora. However, not everyone has the space for this kind of orchard, but this is the wonderful thing about fruit trees - their versatility! If you are limited on space, try growing dwarf trees in pots on the patio, or train an espalier up a south facing wall. You could even try creating ‘step over’ apples (a low- growing, horizontally-trained tree that can literally be ‘stepped over’). There’s always space for some kind of fruit tree.
Site selection
It is worth spending some time planning where you want to plant your orchard, as this could save you trouble later on. Some things worth considering when selection your site include:
Grassland biodiversity
Sometimes, the grassland where you want to plant your trees might be of very high wildlife value. This will be particularly evident in grasslands where a hay cut is regularly taken, or where there are ant hills present (indicating the ground has not been ploughed for a long time). If the grassland has a high diversity of flowers in it, consider planting your orchard on another site. Flower rich meadows are becoming very rare and many important plant species such as orchids are found in them. Your local
122 PC June/July 2019
Wildlife Trust can advise on the value of grasslands at your site, so let them know and they will arrange a survey, along with offering plenty of other useful advice.
Aspect
Ideally, an orchard should be planted on a south or south-west facing slope. This aspect ensures the trees will get plenty of sunlight throughout the year and that there will be adequate drainage. Other aspects may be considered however if a south or south-west slope is not available. Depending on other factors, such as exposure and shading (see below), more hardy fruit varieties should be chosen to cope with the slightly cooler conditions on these slopes.
Exposure
Fruit tree blossom is extremely susceptible to wind blow, particularly the earlier blossoming varieties. In exposed places, a windbreak, such as a hedgerow, can help protect the fruit trees from harsh winds, so you could try planting one before your fruit trees go in (or at the same time). Another danger to fruit tree blossom is frost. A late frost can completely destroy all of the blossom in an orchard; again, early blossomers are particularly at risk. To avoid the risk of frost as much as possible, plant later blossoming varieties. If you have your heart set on early varieties, plant these at the top of the slope. Trees at the top of the slope will receive most sunshine for the longest part of the day; therefore, frost will melt quickly from them.
Drainage
Fruit trees generally hate having wet feet, so the ideal location for them would be on a freely draining soil. This is partly why slopes are good for fruit trees. A good test to find out how well your ground drains is to dig a hole in the ground, around a foot deep, and leave it for a week. If you can see water pooling in the hole after this time, the location is probably too wet for healthy fruit trees and it may be worth considering somewhere else.
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