Planning An Orchard? Don't Make These 10 Mistakes! Photo

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Planning An Orchard? Don't Make These 10 Mistakes! Photo
Planning An Orchard? Don't Make These 10 Mistakes! Photo

Video: Planning An Orchard? Don't Make These 10 Mistakes! Photo

Video: Planning An Orchard? Don't Make These 10 Mistakes! Photo
Video: 10 BIGgest DESIGN MISTAKES made in the Permaculture Orchard 2024, March
Anonim

It just seems that the fruit trees grow and produce crops on their own. Experienced gardeners know what worries are worth getting a high-quality and bountiful harvest. How disappointing it can be when, despite the titanic efforts, the result is not happy. Does the garden get sick all the time? Are there few fruits, are they small and tasteless? Do some trees even die? Most likely, everything is explained simply - already at the time of laying the orchard, fundamental mistakes were made, which led to a disastrous result. It is possible to correct, of course, but it is better to avoid these mistakes.

Planning an orchard? Don't make these 10 mistakes
Planning an orchard? Don't make these 10 mistakes

1. Not taken into account the features of the site

As a rule, we do not have to choose a plot for a garden, as it is, it will be so. But nevertheless, it is in our power to analyze its features and draw conclusions.

It is good if the plot for the garden is located on a plain, it is suitable for growing all fruit crops. But if there is a bias towards the east and, especially, south, keep in mind that these areas warm up faster in spring and stronger in summer. Accordingly, planting crops that wake up early after winter (apricot, for example) on such a slope, you risk that they will constantly bloom early and suffer from spring frosts, and moisture-loving (pear) will suffer from the summer heat. As a result, you may not wait for the harvest.

It should also be borne in mind that on the upper part of such areas, it is worth planting trees that are more resistant to wind and drought, and in the lower, where moisture accumulates, trees that are resistant to waterlogging.

If your site is located in a hollow where cold and humid air accumulates, then most likely you should not plant a garden at all, or choose crops very carefully. After all, they will take on all the most unfavorable factors - low temperatures at the time of flowering and outbreaks of fungal diseases due to high humidity.

2. Ignored soil features

It is clear that the quality of life of a fruit tree directly depends on its root system, and that, in turn, depends on the soil in which it develops. Most fruit trees have a strong root system that extends inward and outward. For normal nutrition, it also needs a large supply of nutrient medium and moisture.

It will take a very selfless effort to grow a garden on poor sandy and rocky, waterlogged, dense clay or saline soils. Those gardeners who plant trees in such soils without first preparing and improving them are unlikely to get a good harvest. The soil must be air and water permeable. This soil is called structural, it is like a sponge.

But each species of fruit trees has its own "requests". Yablona "give" light chernozems, loamy or sandy loam soils. They should be fairly loose and moderately moist. The apple tree does not tolerate waterlogging. Cherry prefers light sandy loam, pear - loose loam rich in humus, and plum grows well and bears fruit only where the soil is loamy, well fertilized and has a supply of moisture.

It is worth measuring the acidity of the soil, for most seedlings of fruit crops it should be neutral with a pH of 5.5-7.

3. High groundwater

When planning to plant certain fruit crops, it is worth finding out the level of occurrence of groundwater. Typically, tall and long-lasting trees on seed stock have a deep root system extending over 2 meters down. And if the groundwater in your area is located higher, then most of the time these roots will get wet in the water, rot and suffocate, and the tree itself somehow exists - there is no time for harvest.

For stone breeds, you can make a level allowance of up to 1.5 meters, and even less for berry bushes.

4. No wind protection

If you lay a garden on an open area, blown by all the winds, then, most likely, in winter it will suffer from frost (after all, the wind blows off the snow), and in summer - from a drying sultry wind. With constant wind, pollinating bees can hardly fly, and young seedlings, swaying from side to side, root poorly.

Therefore, planting a garden, at the same time plant windproof plants on the north and east sides of the site. Do not forget to tie the seedlings to the supports as well.

Young seedlings must be tied to supports
Young seedlings must be tied to supports

5. Small species diversity

Often, gardeners will lay a garden with a single crop in mind, say an apple tree. This is usually done if the garden is laid out for profit. On the one hand, such a garden is easier to care for, all work can be carried out on all plants at once (fertilize, water, spray). But, as a rule, it is in monocultural gardens that plants require more careful and frequent treatment against pests and diseases. After all, they spread in such a garden with lightning speed over all plants. Focusing on one crop, in the event of any miscalculation, you can completely remain without a crop.

6. Non-zoned varieties

It is very important to plant fruit trees grown in local nurseries and adapted to your area in order to obtain a high-quality and regular harvest. This rule is often neglected when buying seedlings from random sellers, or guided by an attractive price. As a result, seedlings from more southerly regions will not tolerate frost in your area, and more northerly seedlings will suffer from your regular winter thaws. In both cases, this will affect the harvest, and the life of the plant as a whole.

7. Thickened planting

Fruit trees need light, air, and a certain amount of soil for normal development and fruiting. Often in amateur gardens, in order to maximize the use of the area of the site, the plants are planted too close to each other - the crowns close, crawl over each other, the branches tend upward, and the bottom is bare. As a result - a decrease in yield and the fragility of the plants themselves. The strongest will survive as there is competition between them for light, food and moisture.

Planting is considered normal when there is an easy passage for a person between adult plants. Therefore, when buying seedlings, be interested in future plant sizes.

8. Incorrect fit

In order for the seedling to take root well and, therefore, quickly enter fruiting, it must be planted correctly. A pit for landing is prepared in advance. Better six months or at least a month before planting the seedling. It is made wide and deep enough and filled with a loose fertile mixture.

If a seedling is planted right away (in a just dug hole), then this is fraught with the fact that the earth will inevitably shrink, and the seedling with its root collar will fall below the soil level, and this is unacceptable. If the hole is made in advance, then all the physical and chemical processes in it have already taken place, and when planting, it is enough to make a small depression for the size of the root system.

Saplings are often planted with leaves and an open root system. Don't do that. When digging up, the roots are probably badly damaged and deliberately shortened. They do not work well, and the leaves actively evaporate moisture. Such seedlings take root with difficulty.

It is worth considering such an important factor as the timing of planting. For southern regions, with mild winters and hot dry summers, autumn is preferable for planting. So the seedling will receive moisture to the maximum and has a high chance of taking root.

In the northern regions, where precipitation falls regularly in summer, it is better to plant in spring, so that the seedling has time to take root and adapt before the harsh winter.

Correct planting of a seedling is the basis of its health in the first years of life
Correct planting of a seedling is the basis of its health in the first years of life

9. Lack of pollinating plants

Many fruit crops, especially stone fruits, require a pollinator plant nearby for good fruiting. It can be inter-pollinated species, or a seedling of the same species, but of a different variety, or just a seedling (wild). Therefore, when buying a plant for a garden, ask if you need to buy two or more of them.

10. When there is no planning

It often happens that novice gardeners plant some trees and shrubs simply because they have free or very cheap planting material and free space. “Well, why not buy this interesting summer apple variety at the sale, if the seedling costs a penny, and the free space on the plot is just heaps of it? You say I already have two varieties of summer apple trees? Nothing! Where there are two, there are three!"

After a few years, these three apple trees grow and begin to produce a good harvest. And then it turns out, as in that joke, “pies with apples, apple charlotte, apple cider, juice, kvass, jam…. why not cut down these apple trees to hell? !!!"

Carefully choose not only the types of fruit trees that will grow on your site, but also varieties, taking into account so that you can process the crop without much hassle. After all, it is grown with difficulty and, silly, you must agree, if then it simply disappears just because there is too much of it. After all, it happens that it is not something to sell, in good years no one will take it for nothing!

In conclusion, it is worth adding that even if you managed to avoid all of the above mistakes, in order to get a large and high-quality harvest in the garden, you must follow the rules of agricultural technology - water, fertilize, treat pests and diseases on time, and prune.

Good luck and good harvests!

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