The Grounded Orchardist

So, it’s the end of the harvest season, it has been for a few weeks for me this year. There’s various jobs to be done but my impatience gets the better of me each year at this time.

It’s the game of waiting for the leaves to fall so I can start pruning. I love pruning and I’m itching to get properly started on the apples. I’ve nearly finished the Pears as they have gone dormant. I’m a little worried that pruning them may induce new growth as its so warm in the daytime but I think they’ll be fine. We have a Pear wall which has 83 metres of wall covered in Pears. This is west facing and these have more or less dropped their leaves too. Its interesting to see the difference a wall makes to the leaves dropping. A good couple of weeks in fact. There’s more Pear trees I could prune but I need to leave these for a pruning course we are doing.

The apples however, which I would normally start with before the pears are still growing. They’ve dropped some leaves but there is an inch or more of new growth on average dependant on variety. Apple sawfly are sadly having a great time shredding the new leaves!

Its been lovely, almost spring-like until the sun starts to go down but we need it to go cold! As we use organic practices to grow our fruit we need the cold to help control pests and disease, help the tree go dormant and get enough could hours to be well rested for next year.

However, there’s good news! This week looks like winter has finally started to arrive. Its turned very quickly. So I fully expect to be able to start pruning the apples from next week!