Orchard Renovation Project
Master Gardener June Wilcox is spearheading a project to renovate the orchard at the San Andreas Demo Garden. This project began in January 2013. The following steps were recommended by the UC Davis Agricultural Extension They specifically address the bacterial canker that has affected many stone fruit trees as well as the general health of all the fruit trees.
X Control size for easier care in maintaining and picking fruit
X Increase strength – develop strong limb structure
X_ Distribute sunlight evenly throughout tree
X Regulate fruit bearing – removes excess fruitwood
X Renew fruitwood – to continue strong buds and flowers
X Remove undesirable wood- dead, broken, and crossing branches
Orchard Time Line
01/23/13 pruned all trees and removed two dead trees affect by canker disease
02/05/13 planted three new "e z pick" fruit trees
02/21/13 organic oil spray to control peach leaf curl and canker on established trees as per IPM
03/05/13 planting another fruit tree
03/29/13 watered new trees
04/29/13 mulched all trees; cut off affected branches on pears that have fire blight
05/06/13 sprinklers installed and weekly watering began
05/15/13 weeding began
05/16/13 began removing the tire mulch and under cloth to check what the ground underneath. Hard as a rock. All the area needs to be removed.
6/1/13 students from Calaveras High removed rubber mulch from orchard.
7/1/13 summer pruning of all trees using U.C. Davis Agriculture Extension
Sept. through October -2013 continued watering trees on automatic system twice a week for 30 minutes each.
12/03/13 sprayed all trees for peach leaf curl and canker. Trimmed all trees of dead and broken branches.
01/03/2014 sprayed trees for second time.
03/01/14 sprayed third time
04/14 planted four fruit trees
Future projects
- Try grafting on already existing root stock
- Monitor watering and pruning
- Continue to monitor diseases and work to reduce as much as possible
What did not work? We should have applied another round of oil spray.
The following information comparing spray products comes from the Fair Oaks MG website. UC Davis directs experiments in their orchard:
The two liquid copper products have fairly similar efficacy—they improved control and perhaps sufficiently, but still not great. The control achieved, although resulting in some unsightly damage, is probably enough to allow the tree to produce good shoot growth with enough healthy leaves to nourish the rapidly growing young fruit. Agribon likely allowed some rain to penetrate to the branches. It may be best held up with a post in the middle to allow rain to run off down the sloped sides rather than having a flat surface on top, but it must be fastened securely because of strong winds. Agribon plus Liqui-Cop worked quite well, probably because the fairly good control with Liqui-Cop was enhanced by drier conditions. The combination of lime sulfur (in late fall) followed by Microcop (in late winter) was highly effective, as expected. Normally only one of these products was used for both fall and winter applications, but insufficient product was available for both. Maxicrop (kelp), even sprayed eight times, provided no control at all.