When a Hope Is Not Enough: Autumn Orchard Clean-up for a Better Harvest

This is not meant to sound like a complaint, just an honest assessment. If you keep a garden, preserve the surplus, do needed yard and garden clean-up, take care of a house, and cook meals at least a few nights per week, you have a full time job. If you don't keep a garden, or do some of the other things, but you have a day job, you already know that you're pretty busy.

Today I cleaned up under the apple trees, which involved pruning dead branches, trimming the hedge that goes around the trees, raking up all of the fallen fruit and leaves, and hauling the stuff to the back of the property.

I had neglected this part of my job for the last 3 years, solidly, and intermittently in other years. I had that whole dental thing going on, and the appointments took over my mind for the most part. What happened when I stopped cleaning up under the apple trees? We had a massive invasion of apple maggots in one variety of our apples, making at least half the apples from that tree inedible.

I knew in my mind at that time that I had to let some things go for a short period. I hoped for the best. I don't feel badly about that. But I did really realize how important it is to give your food producing plants and soil good care.

The work I did today took several hours. If I get a better saw I could reduce that time. I've got my eye on a mini powered saw. I may ask for that for Christmas this year. I still have some work to do to take care of the orchard. I have other fruiting trees that need my care to produce well going forward. But the apples really grabbed my attention.

Good orchard hygiene is the foundational shield that protects fruiting trees disease, pests, and poor yields. While spring tends to be the exciting time of year for the orchard, it's what happens as the trees are about to be put to sleep for the winter that determines what the next harvest will bring.

What you can expect to gain by giving your fruit trees care in fall:

• Breaking the Pest and Disease Cycle: Many of the devastating orchard issues overwinter in the debris beneath the canopy of the trees. If you remove pest-infested dropped fruit and diseased leaves and branches, the cycle of both types of damage is interrupted.
• Wildlife Control: Decomposing fruit on the ground acts  as a beacon to wasps and foraging animals -- raccoons and rodents. On a couple of occasions I've mentioned on this blog that we've had issues with mice in the garage (attached to the house). The orchard is just outside the back door into the garage. I suspect if I thoroughly cleaned/pruned the garden and fruit trees every fall, we would have a reduced rodent population so close to the house. We will always have some foragers, as we're up against a wooded area.
• Maximizing Tree Energy and Airflow: Weak branches suck up a great deal of energy from the tree and can't support much fruit production. Crossing branches  and dead branches block airflow. Airflow is important to preventing trapped moisture, which contributes to fungal infections. 

So what's really needed for good orchard hygiene?

• Clear Fallen Fruit: All diseased or infested fruit should be raked up and disposed far from the orchard. Home compost piles don't get hot enough to kill most pathogens. If you don't have a disposal place in a far removed corner of your property, it can be burned (in places where yard waste burning is allowed) or trashed (put into municipal recycling bins). We have a long and narrow lot, with space at the back for fallen fruit and diseased leaves and branches. So that's where we dispose of this material. Non-diseased yard waste goes into our compost bin.
• Rake All Leaves to the Drip Line: Disease can spread through the dead leaves on the ground and reinfect new spring foliage. After leaves are raked, a good mulch of arborist wood chips or hardwood bark/chips will protect and feed the soil over the following year. Remember -- bare to the flare. Keep the mulch away from the trunk by 3 to 6 inches to prevent rot.
• Prune the 3 D's: Cleaning the pruners with rubbing alcohol between trees, prune anything diseased, dead, or damaged. This is a 3 D-only prune, not a dormancy or structural prune. Winter, when the trees are in dormancy, is the time to prune in order to open up a canopy, thin, and shape the tree.
• Trunk Management as Needed: Depending on your particular location and issues, you may need to protect the trunk against severe winter weather, nesting pests, and early spring diseases by using a white paint treatment to protect the trunk or a hardware cloth guard to protect against rodents.

Reclaiming an orchard after life gets in the way isn't just cleaning up the yard. It is an affirmation of renewal. The pests and the wild growth were daunting as I carried my saw and rake to the apple trees. The good news is fruit trees are resilient. If there's a period where for whatever reason they don't receive the care they need, they can be brought back into peak performance. I am optimistic that with consistent, good care, I can improve our edible harvests and the lifespan of the trees we have. Isn't that what good stewardship is all about, taking care to preserve that which we have been entrusted? Although it had been a few years, today was the perfect day to start afresh.