Fruit trees and orchards

[Mark2]

The subject of bees and orchards is big ! and could rubble on for months ! I hope it does! I’m up for it.

But in the interest of keeping this interesting, I want to change the subject ! I’l be blunt ! Is there money to be made in fruit tree pruning ? I want to interest the young’uns! learning a new career, young new tree teams. And pull in some of the high climbing big boys ! Let’s get back to bees, let’s talk money! If it pays we can earn a living doing what we love, agreed ?

[Paul in the woods]

50 minutes ago, Conor Wright said:

 believe all you said there is true.. watching our hives (all 2 of them!) On the move the last few days has been surprising.. still finding ivy, some long lasting marigolds and borage and even heading off towards the bog, presumably for Heather.. honey bee treatment in the US is shocking and it happens for all types of crop from oilseed rape to oranges, apples, almonds..

Ours were still on our ivy a couple of weeks back. They are now on the gorse when the weather allows but are mainly bringing water in.

 

@Wonky, I'm glad I left a super on each of ours as it has been warm and wet so the bees will have been munching through their stores. Have you 'hefted' your hives to see what they have left?

[Conor Wright]

14 minutes ago, Wonky said:

Yeh this yr has been mild so far to last yr, I’m wondering if my bees will run short of honey, as I nicked a lot from my bees.?? I guess I can give them some home made candi to keep them buzzing ??

I resisted the urge to rob em this year! They should have enough to see them through if the weather turns sour.. didn't really get them to "farm" for honey.. if anything I would expand the number of hives, still take a minimal amount and achieve a higher honey harvest that way. Sugar syrup is a poor food compared to honey. Keeps them alive but I wonder about overall hive health, beats ending up with a hive full of dead bees though.

[Wonky]

I’m sure as with any business, if you advertise your services and pitch around  the going rate you will get customers for your services.

I’ve been hoping to be paid to put my bees in places, but unfortunately all of those places seemed to think I’d want to pay them, even thou I drive miles and miles. But I’ve always offed a jar (1lb) per hive. But that’s me asking them  if I can put my hive on there land  not them asking me. 

[Rough Hewn]

The subject of bees and orchards is big ! and could rubble on for months ! I hope it does! I’m up for it.
But in the interest of keeping this interesting, I want to change the subject ! I’l be blunt ! Is there money to be made in fruit tree pruning ? I want to interest the young’uns! learning a new career, young new tree teams. And pull in some of the high climbing big boys ! Let’s get back to bees, let’s talk money! If it pays we can earn a living doing what we love, agreed ?

Honestly.
Every time I've quoted £2-300 for pruning a huge overgrown apple or pear, I've not heard back.
It's a long time consuming job if done correctly.

[Wonky]

1 minute ago, Conor Wright said:

I resisted the urge to rob em this year! They should have enough to see them through if the weather turns sour.. didn't really get them to "farm" for honey.. if anything I would expand the number of hives, still take a minimal amount and achieve a higher honey harvest that way. Sugar syrup is a poor food compared to honey. Keeps them alive but I wonder about overall hive health, beats ending up with a hive full of dead bees though.

I believe it’s like a cow, the more you milk the more it produces, but it has to be done at the right time. And the yr has to good to the bees.

i have a mate that says I take the surplus in the spring, he never get anything... if you understand that the bees need it then and use it and there is very little coming in. Yes if you’ve nick to much in the previous yr and the weather turns bad they can starve, but that can and does happen in the wild anyway. That’s why I feed Candi in the spring ?

[Mark2]

ThanksPeasgood thanks for that info some of that is correct some not. My favourites are garden/hygiene to break the breeding cycle, encouraging garden birds, the amount of pests a pair of feeding parent birds can deal with is huge!

plus keeping your tree strong and healthy by pruning ! Like us humans it’s when we’re weak we fall prey to illness. A moribund tree will fall prey to pests and diseases!

regarding bees v nicatenoids don’t forget bees will travel miles to good source crops and down wind of arable crops will be contaminated ! bees to! restrictions have been put in place ! But it’s  a proven fact bee colony calapse is a sereous issue! Most of our fruit and veg are dependent on bees pollination! wild or honey ? bee !!

[Peasgood]

20 minutes ago, Rough Hewn said:

Honestly.
Every time I've quoted £2-300 for pruning a huge overgrown apple or pear, I've not heard back.
It's a long time consuming job if done correctly.

There are some that are willing to pay but most would look at it from the “no way will I get £200 worth of apples off it” point of view.

Paying someone to prune your fruit trees each year will cost a lot more than the value of fruit they get in return.

[Mark2]

Thanks honestly ! That’s right on que there’s a thousand people out there think the same ! That’s what I’d love to overcome. But if you think about it ! It’s a smaller version of the same equation we face with any tree job, hedges forestry big estate work. The price has to be realistic to get the job + we have to pay our bills and have  carrot on the end of the stick—?

as stated way above , the best fruit tree pruning is little and often! To try and catch up with let’s say ten years neglect in one visit would leave the customers unhappy with the price as you state ! To catch up with 10 years neglect on one go would leave the tree heavily pruned with excess vigour putting the removed branches back with water shoots! And you cussing and reluctant to take similar jobs on!  I hope to convince us that it’s worth while for all three party’s 

no rush. Now I’v got to admit i’m a bit tired right now (been at this since 8am out of the blue. But hope to keep this one rolling. Good night all and thanks ??

[openspaceman]

6 hours ago, Conor Wright said:

Did you prune out any visible canker? I stand to be corrected but the wilt fungus can reside in the canker over winter?.

I tried to but it was quite a heavy infestation which is why I thought preventing fruiting might give the tree a chance to recover.

6 hours ago, Conor Wright said:

 

 

. the codling moth may easily travel to your tree, so whilst it sounds like youve done all you can to give the tree the best chance you may not have fully removed that threat. Also, everything has it's life cycle, if it is an ancient tree, it may be in decline and as such be more susceptible to disease and decay.. 

It is an old tree, it looked old 40 years ago when we got here but I was busy so didn't give it any attention. The apples never kept well but had a pleasant taste , over the years the brown rot caused most to fall prematurely and any that remained were damaged.

 

Yes I should fell it  and it would give another  parking space plus when I'm gone the site will get redeveloped into a 5 bed house owned by someone with a good job in London and young kids  wanting to be sent to the sought after local school but for now I like it and  cannot replace it with anything I'll benefit from.